And Then There Were Kitties
by Foosha
Summary: College-going shut-ins Nicky and Vash have been living through their relatively uninteresting lives for the past few years. Finally when Nicky thinks she's about to die from monotony, an interesting litter of kittens shows up by her back door. Dundundun! Rated M just in case!
1. Kitty Invasion

**Foosha**: Okay, thank you for reading this first of all. I know it's been done a bazillion times but I couldn't resist. :P I must say though, it's going to be quite different from most you've read. Well... the oc's personalities and the weird events that occur. It's gonna be awesome and I'm always open to suggestions and pairing stuff which I haven't really thought about... Anehways, give it a chance, you just might enjoy it! :D

**Vash**: Let them read it already.

**Foosha**: Fine fine. Do the disclaimer thingy then, you chickdapus!

**Nicky**: I'll do it! Foosha doesn't own Naruto or anything mentioned from any other anime or whatever! Ta~da!

**Foosha**: That was fantastic Nicky.

**Nicky**: Thanks!

**Vash**: Moving forward now...

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><p>I always thought that my life was pretty boring… well average perhaps. Being the cautious, attention-avoiding person that I am, I've always strived to evade being in situations that made me uncomfortable or that could be potentially dangerous, which led me to become a socially awkward individual. Not that I didn't like hanging out with people, because I did enjoy it (as long as they weren't completely annoying and arrogant), but I was terribly awkward around others so… it just really made things more embarrassing than anything. So low and behold, here I was at the age of twenty, with good grades, a goal in my life for college, but with no real social life besides my roommate, who is also a bit of a shut-in (or perhaps she's just too lazy… like I can be) so I don't think that counts. About six months ago I finally got tired of the nothingness that happened in my life and decided to move four hours away from home in order to go to a nice university (that didn't just feel like an upgrade from high school like my other small town college), dragging the only friend I have (that's a girl at least) with me. Having the awesome parents we have (or grandma in my case) they decided to pay for our rent while we rented out my step-sister's basement, which is more like a mini-house. So at the moment, Vash and I, Nicky, are living out our shut-in lives together, which is more human interaction than I'm used to, so I believe it's a step in the right direction! Which leads up to the current situation of boredom.<p>

"Blahhhhhh I should go to the store but I don't wanna go by myself. What if I got kidnapped or something? Or what if a hobo chased me?" I shuddered quietly under the blanket I had wrapped around me while I sat on my comfy leather sofa. Since we did live in a basement, it was notorious for remaining the same cool temperature all year round, even though it was ninety-two degrees outside, for which I was grateful for. I hate the heat.

A sigh escaped my lips, blowing some of my shoulder-length grayish-blonde hair away from my face. My bangs had gotten a little long and it was beginning to get annoying.

"'Spose I'll just play some Animal Crossing then. I do need to catch that damn dragonfly for my collection," I muttered crossly, flipping from AV2 to AV1 on the TV. If it wasn't obvious before, I'll let you know now that I have a thing with talking to myself, or other inanimate objects. I guess I get lonely in my own way.

The familiar calming music of the game played softly as I started up my save file. Being the slightly OCD person I am, I made a schedule for myself to get on this game at least once a day so I could maintain the weeds and make sure I didn't miss a chance at adding to my bug collection by catching the stupid insanely fast dragonfly I had to catch. It was really becoming irksome though.

Today I could only spend a half hour on the game, compared to other days where I spent five, before turning it off in frustration. Now I was back to being very bored, without a Vash to annoy with pointless things. At the moment, even though it's summer, she has been working six days a week doing things to prepare her for going into pharmaceutical sciences. Which is pretty awesome really, though I'm sad when she's gone and the boredom makes me really weird.

"I think it's iPod time!" I stood up and refolded the blanket I was using, setting it in its proper spot, and skipping over to my iHome. "What do I feel like… hm.. oh I know." I flipped to the song "Tonight Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae, which had been stuck in my head all day, and started singing and dancing to it. I'm not sure it could be consider dancing, though. Maybe it's better described as seizuring. But… that's not a word. Oh well, it is now.

While spinning and waving my arms like an idiot, I glanced at the clock, noticing that I had three hours until Vash got home. Too long for me. That means I'd have to find a more long term entertainment, or just eat food.

"I need some Kool Aid now." I walked over to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of Cherry Kool Aid, drinking most of it in one gulp, and setting down the remainder near my iHome, when suddenly I remembered my task I had for the next month: to retrieve Jen's (my step-sister's)mail and newspaper, and water her plants twice a week. I decided to go get the mail while I remembered, so I slipped on some shoes and opened my door to go upstairs and out to the backyard. The house was designed in a way that there was a separate door for both upstairs and downstairs that both converged into one area that housed the laundry room and back door. That way I didn't feel like I was invading personal space. I dashed out the back door and winced as the sunlight hit my face, making me squint horribly.

"I hate you sun. Why can't it be overcast today." Sunlight and me didn't get along, unless I was swimming. Then it was okay. Or if I had sunglasses.

Anyway, I retrieved the mail and newspaper from the front porch, making sure no one saw me in my t-shirt and sweat pants and ran into the backyard, closing the wood gate behind me. Thank goodness for a fence. Otherwise I probably would never go out in the backyard. Too self-conscious I guess, but with the fence being over six feet I felt more comfortable. And it was a decent sized backyard with a hammock so why not take advantage? But, not today. Today I had the task of getting the mail and that was it. It was far too sunny outside for me to actually enjoy being outside. Kinda off topic, but that's okay. While lost in thought, I felt my foot bump into something slightly heavy. I looked down and noticed a large cardboard box sitting in front of the back door. _So much for feeling safe with a fence. _I looked around and didn't see anyone, but was too nervous to actually open the box. It was sloppily folded together over the top and I wasn't expecting a package, making it more suspicious. I kneeled down next to box, debating whether or not to chance opening it and possibly setting off a giant explosion, when I heard a small mewing come from the box.

"Kitties?" I blinked, and ripped the top of the box open, seeing ten kittens staring back at me, looking equally confused. "Confused kitties? That's weird. Probably just seein' things…" I stood up and rubbed the back of my head, a frown covering my features as I searched the yard again with the same result. "Well… I can't just leave you out here. I guess Jen wouldn't mind… hopefully." A reluctant sigh escaped my lips while I ran a hand through my hair. I walked around the kittens and set the mail on a table near Jen's back entrance for her to see later and picked up the box, which was quite heavy by the way, maneuvering it carefully into my basement home.

"Sheesh kitties, you guys are heavy, no offense." I set them down near my couch and went back to close both doors before taking a seat near the box. The kittens were still staring at me, oddly silent, so I stared back. "Well… now what? Do I keep you or give you to the shelter, or give you to a homeless person for a midday snack? So many choices." I decided the best way to go about it would be to weigh the pros and cons. With the logical choices at least. "Okay then. I've always wanted kitties… but I'm a poor college student so… ten kitties is kinda a lot to take care of… but I really want kitties… but Jen isn't a big fan of cats… but Vash really likes cats and misses her cats so… it'll be like we're splitting five and five… ugh. What a bittersweet situation." My head fell into my palms as I tried to make a decision. A rather loud meowing sound brought my head back up and I looked into the box to see an orange kitty with gray spots on its face looking at me with an almost commanding expression. I narrowed my eyes at it.

"What do you want me to do? I barely have enough money to feed myself. And you guys aren't supposed to be smart enough to understand what I'm saying." I raised an eyebrow at the thought. "Are you guys like aliens or something weird like that? Or perhaps you're bioengineered smart kitties with super powers!" While I said this I got excited and grinned. "That would be pretty cool. Okay I decided I'll keep you guys 'cause you seem pretty awesome, and you kinda creep me out too." The orange one's expression softened a bit, as if understanding what I said. "Jesus, that's creepy. Don't do that, haha. I guess I should name you guys, let's start with orangey here." I reached in a picked up the one I had been staring at and he bit me suddenly, but not hard enough to draw blood.

"Owwie! You meany. I'm letting you guys into my home AND I'll be buying your food and such and this is the thanks I get? Rude." I pouted and brought his small body in front of me so I could look at him face to face. "I assume you're a guy, since you're such an asshole, but I won't hold it against you. Hmm… I'll name you Nonopherian because that'll make Vash happy, and you'll probably get along with her better than me. You should consider yourself lucky." I set him down on the floor so he could walk around and explore a bit, but instead of doing that he just sat there quietly and stared up at me.

"Okayy… I guess I'll keep going then." Next I picked up a white kitty with pinkish colored eyes. I smiled, and cheered, "Oh cool! You're like albino or something! You look awesome!" I checked to see he was a boy and then tapped my chin in thought. "Hm… well I'm not so good with manly names so… I'll just give you a name I like. You shall be dubbed Marshmallow! How about that?" I grinned again and his little kitty eyes almost seemed angry, but since he's a kitty, I didn't care that much, so I sat him down next to Orangey, who I decided to call Orangey since I declared his real name to be used by Vash. That and I was lazy.

I picked up a deep red kitten next and my grin just grew wider as I started to laugh excitedly. "Wow! You're beautiful! Or handsome I guess seeing as you're a boy but wow! So pretty!" I think the kitten was pleased, so I continued happily. "I'll name you Spirit, since you guys have the same colored hair." For those who don't know, Spirit is the red-headed dude from the Soul Eater anime. Anyways, I sat him down and grabbed two cats to make the process quicker. The first one I noticed was a yellowish-cream color with blue eyes.

"Ooooh you're pretty too! I'm so lucky to have such good looking kitties!" I laughed evilly while blue-eyes looked at me oddly. "I'll name you… Foofy because of how fluffy you are!" My green eyes moved over to catch Marshmallow's eyes. "Now you aren't the only one with a girly sounding name." When setting down Foofy, I noticed that the kittens seemed to be conversing with each other and almost seemed amused with the names the white and yellow one got. I giggled, "I see you're enjoying you're names. There are still more to go though." The kitten in my other hand meowed and I looked to it noticing it had a weird orange splotch over its face while the rest of its body was black.

"Looks like you got too close to an exploding pumpkin, little one." I tapped my chin with a thoughtful expression, when the thought hit me, making me snap my finger. "I got it! I shall name you Helghast, because you look just like them with those colors. I'll have to show you later since you're so smart and all." He meowed and I sat him down next to Foofy, who hissed at him. "Guess you two don't get along so well… I'll remember that." So I picked up Helghast and moved him next to Orangey who didn't seem bothered by him, though he didn't seem to be bothered by anything so far anyway. Except for me at least. I leaned over the box counting five kitties left. "Okay let's see I'll just get you all out and point to you with your name." With only one girl out of all of them, it was relatively easy to remember genders when I put them all in a group.

"Now then," I pointed to a dark brown kitty with darker brown lines that almost resembled stiches, and the most amazing green eyes, "You will be Professor Layton!" I patted him on the head and he looked bewildered. "You, my good sir, have a very distinguished name. You should be proud. And you," I pointed to a pure black one, "will be Izaya because he's awesome! I'll show you him later too." Izaya is a character from the anime Durarara who reminds me of the black kitty in a way. Except I don't think that the black kitty is psycho… or is he? Only two greyish-blue ones remained and one that was black and white split down the middle. I picked him up first.

"Well aren't you an interesting one. I've never seen such strange markings on kitties before you guys. Hm… you shall be Calcifer because... I just thought of that name and he's my favorite character from Howl's Moving Castle! Besides Howl of course… hehehe." Cal jumped out of my hands and the two left moved up towards me. I wagged a finger at them and "tsked".

"You guys are too smart for your own good. The bigger one with the black face marks will be Fishy and the smaller blue one will be Lila because that's a cute girl name." I smiled at them all and stood up, feeling accomplished. "Well then kitties, you have all been officially named by moi, so now I have to go get you some food and stuff. Hm... since you're smart kitties, I don't want you getting bored while I'm gone." I walked over and grabbed the box, flipping it over and setting it on the ground near the couch as a kind of step. Some of the cats got the hint and used it to get onto the couch, then looked at me expectantly. I grabbed the remote and turned the TV on, turning it to a random movie, which happened to be Transformers. The cats seemed surprised at first by the sound and picture, but after watching for a moment they relaxed into it. I laughed lightly.

"You guys are silly. Well… does anyone want to come with me? That way you could help me choose the right things for the rest of you. I have a feeling you won't like normal kitty things..." The cats looked to Orangey and he seemed to give the "okay" for some of them to go with me. I blinked and waited to see if any would step forward. Spirit, Izaya and Helghast moved closer to me, looking up to my face. "I'll assume you guys want to go." They seemed to nod. "Okay then, let me get dressed real fast. I'll be right back." Excitement started to move through my body, causing me to skip to my room, closing the door behind me, since they are smart kitties, you never know. I finally had cats and they were pretty and awesomely smart, how cool is that?

Deciding on something simple, I put on a pair of black shorts and a bright blue Pokémon shirt with Pikachu on the front. I walked out only to bump into Calcifer, causing him to flop over onto his side, making me giggle.

"Sorry Cal, didn't mean to scare ya'. You must have been spying on me, eh?" I picked him up and held him close to me, petting his head, hoping that was a good enough apology. "What a cutie you are." He started to purr quietly and almost seemed surprised by the action, making me laugh more. These cats were just too much. It's almost like they just realized they were cats.

I carried him out to the others and set him down next to Lila. "All right kiddies, as in children, since you are kittens and all, I'll take Spirit, Ghast and Izaya to the store and I should be back in an hour or so. I believe this movie is two hours or so long so hopefully you don't get too bored. I'll make sure to bring back some good food, for you guys at least." Thinking about it, I'd probably be living off of macaroni for the next while or so, which was fine with me really, until I wanted steak. Which is always. Sigh. I stopped moping and grabbed a medium tote bag that housed my wallet, keys, etc. and set Ghast inside, sensing him to be a trouble making kitty with that eager expression. He popped his little head out of the side while I sat the other two on each of my shoulders.

"Okay I think we're ready then. Hold on kitties, I'm not sure how steady my shoulders are. Feel free to use claws if necessary." I waved to the other cats goodbye, feeling like a weirdo for talking to cats and thinking they're responding to me, and locked both doors behind me as I made my way out. Izaya looked at me curiously. I blinked back at him, unsure of what he was thinking. "I just locked to make sure no one would come steal my stuff… or your friends." He seemed to relax a bit, so I guess that's what he was wondering. I made my way around the house and grabbed my bike that was leaning against the side. Luckily for me, my bike had a basket, so I set my tote, with Ghast in it, into the basket along with Izaya and Spirit.

"I don't want you guys falling off my shoulders while I ride this. I'm not coordinated enough, I'd probably tip the whole bike if you sat on my shoulders." My face fell realizing how true that statement was as I made my journey to Petco and possibly Smith's, for my interesting new kitties. Boy, would Vash be surprised when she got home.

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><p><strong>Foosha<strong>: Let me know what you think of the characters, I hope it didn't suck too bad! Also, here are the names of the cats and who they really are. I'll post another one at the beginning of the second chapter.

Pein = Nonopherian/Orangey

Konan = Lila

Zetsu = Calcifer

Tobi = Helghast

Deidara = Foofy

Sasori = Spirit

Hidan = Marshmallow

Kakuzu = Professor Layton

Kisame = Fishy

Itachi = Izaya


	2. Meeting Vash

**Foosha**: Thank-you DeeaE, Chillybean, GrimmyRayne, Yuti-Chan, and Crescent Moons Suicide for the reviews and favorites! You guys are awesome! :D And as such, I feel obligated to put out this chapter right away! Happy Thursday!

**Nicky: **Also, Foosha has done some random drawings of us on her deviantart account!

**Vash:** The link is on her profile. Don't look at the green picture though, it sucks.

**Foosha: **Vash you are being uncharacteristically mean. I also never realized how long that word is.

**Nicky: **Anyways…. Foosha doesn't own Naruto stuffs!

**Foosha:** Also! I just completed an awesome drawing of all the kittens with Vash and Nicky so check it out! The link is also on my profile. :D

**Kitten name list:**

Pein = Nonopherian/Orangey

Konan = Lila

Zetsu = Calcifer

Tobi = Helghast

Deidara = Foofy

Sasori = Spirit

Itachi = Izaya

Kisame = Fishy

Hidan = Marshmallow

Kakuzu = Professor Layton

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><p>The ride to Petco wasn't too bad. Considering the fact that it was ninety-two outside, it was relatively breezy making the temperature more bearable. Besides, I used to live in a desert before, so moving to a more temperate zone really made a difference for me. Thank goodness for slight heat tolerance! But, that doesn't mean that I don't still hate it.<p>

"Ugh it just has to be summer, eh kitties?" I panted slightly, being the out of shape, but average weight wise, person I was. At the moment I was just passing a few street taco stands and turning into the Petco parking lot. I got off and walked my bike the rest of the way to the racks, locking my bike up and grabbing the kitties from the basket, setting them into their original positions on my shoulders (and tote for Ghast), in the process. Being the curious, and strange, kitties they were, they looked at their surroundings in slight awe (well at least in Ghast's case).

"It's like you've never been outside before, but… maybe you haven't," I whispered to them. Noticing some glances I got from other people shopping around the area, I laughed nervously. "Now everyone thinks I'm crazy. Crazier than normal I guess. Oh well, let's go guys." The kitten's eyes widened slightly as we walked into the air-conditioned building, wafting the familiar Petco smell towards our faces. My own face twisted in disgust. "Blech. Ferret smell," I mumbled under my breath and after grabbing a cart, trudged my way to the cat stuff aisle (my own name for the aisle, of course). The aisle was stocked with toys of all kinds, cat posts, litter boxes, and food. I sat Izaya and Spirit in the cart and gave them a look.

"So… what exactly do you guys want from here?" They looked around, seemingly uninterested. Ghast however, was very entranced with some of the mouse toys. I sighed loudly. "Okay Ghast, I'll get you a mouse and a laser pointer for myself." _Bahaha I'll have some kitty fun when I get home_. I grabbed the two items and tossed them in the cart. "Well… I guess I'll need a litter box or two. But what food do you guys want?" Izaya stood on his hind legs against the side of the cart, looking at the food choices, then shook his head and sat down.

"Wah? None of them? Well do you guys want people food instead?" Simultaneously they nodded, except for Ghast who was transfixed by the mouse toy in the cart. I dragged a hand across my face dramatically. _These kitties are going to cost more than they're worth_. "Guess we'll have to go by the grocery store then. I have everything here pretty much."

After checking out at the register, I asked the lady if I could leave the boxes and litter here for a bit while I went grocery shopping, and she nodded "yes" after patting Spirit on the head. I smiled at her and waved, walking back out into the heat.

"Alrighty then. Smith's here we come!" Unlocking my bike from the rack, I put the kitties back in the basket along with my tote filled with new toys, and started on my journey to Smith's, which was only a couple of blocks away. Ah, the perks of living in a large city. Everything is so close together, and there are more than one of most stores.

Two hours later, after chasing Ghast around the grocery store, managing dealing with extremely picky eaters, and having a store manager yell at me while I cried, I finally was able to make it home in one piece with my wallet being a hundred dollars lighter and my muscles being slightly stronger from carrying the kitty litter all the way back home. _At least I better be stronger, otherwise I'll just be sore and unhappy. _After all this, I realized how poorly thought out that shopping trip was while I collapsed in a heap on the couch after putting everything away. I did have a habit of not thinking things through all the way before I do them. Unless it has to do with school, work or cleaning things.

"Gahh… that was the most stressful thing of my life…" I sighed to myself and sunk deeper into the couch as I watched the kittens discuss the groceries (I'm assuming) with their comrades. "Whelp, I'm gonna go shower kitties," I stood up and stretched my arms up to the ceiling before turning back to them, "I'll make you guys some food when I get out, so behave! You are dismissed, soldiers!" And with a salute, I walked into the bathroom and locked the door, very eager for my much needed shower.

**Kitty POV?**

"_Did you get a good look at the area, Itachi?" _The black kitten, Itachi, nodded to the orange one, Pein, slowly.

_"I did and it isn't anywhere we've been before." _The red colored cat took a seat next to Itachi.

_"It's like we're in a whole different world. There are large mechanical machines that people travel around in and tall buildings everywhere. I also couldn't sense any chakra coming from anyone. It's almost as if they're all civilians." _The orange cat nodded to the red one and called the rest to his attention.

_"Good job Sasori, and Itachi. Until we can figure out how to change back into humans, we will remain in this home. Everyone make sure to act your best as a… kitten until then. We will find some way to undo this jutsu, and once we've done that, we will start planning a way to get home." _The white cat had an angry look on his face.

_"How the fuck am I supposed to do a proper fucking tribute to Jashin then?" _The sound of a muffled slap echoed across the room as the brown kitten with stiches hit the white cat upside the head.

_ "You couldn't anyway Hidan, you're a kitten now and not immortal. Haven't you noticed that none of us can use jutsus or chakra anyway?" _Hidan just continued to mumble to himself in a disgruntled manner, giving up on the argument relatively quickly.

"_Kakuzu is right. We'll just have to be pampered kittens until we're back to normal, yeah. At least we won't be living off of take-out all the time now, hm,"_ the yellow cat, Deidara, mused to himself. Kakuzu perked up.

_"Which means we won't be spending any money while we're here, how wonderful," _he laughed to himself, imagining the free benefits they would all be receiving. Kisame, the larger blue cat wandered over to join the conversation.

_"We're lucky this girl was observant enough to notice that we were smarter cats, otherwise we would be living off of cat food for a while, too." _The smaller blue one nodded to them, looking at her own kitty paws.

_"She seems very nice and genuine. I think we can trust her enough to take care of us while we are in this incapacitated state." _Suddenly the kitten with the orange face and black body jumped in the middle of the meeting circle.

_"Tobi likes the nice lady! She gave Tobi a toy!" _And out of thin air, he pulled out his mouse toy and began playing with it.

_**"We'll keep an eye on her anyway. **__Though I think she's pretty trustworthy," _reasoned the black and white one. Pein looked to all the kittens and nodded.

_ "You all make valid points but, I think that Konan and Zetsu are right. We will just have to trust her to take care of us for now, and if she does anything to mess that up, we will just have to kill her later. Until then, keep your guard up and take close observations of this new world around us. Maybe we'll find some clues on how to get out of here." _The group nodded to their leader and resumed their earlier duties of watching television. Kakuzu let out a laugh suddenly causing Hidan to look over to him.

_"What the fuck is so funny?"_ Kakuzu just looked to him with a sly smirk on his kitty features.

_"Oh nothing… Marshmallow." _This caused some of the other kittens to chuckle as well. Hidan gave a frustrated growl.

_"At least my name isn't fucking Foofy." _The kittens laughed even louder this time looking towards the poor yellow kitten. Deidara was fuming.

_"It's not my fault her naming was terrible, yeah. The only ones who got good names were Konan, Zetsu, Itachi, Sasori and Leader-sama." _

_"So half of her naming was crap," _Kisame or "Fishy" concluded. The group nodded and looked towards the bathroom door when they heard it creak open, revealing a newly cleaned Nicky back in her sweats and t-shirt combination.

**Nicky's POV**

"What a nice shower!" I exclaimed, stretching my arms once again in front of me. The kittens were just staring at me still. I frowned a bit. "You guys are so serious all the time, sheesh. I'll start on some dinner I guess." _But first… a little kitty fun, kekeke… _From behind my back I produced the laser pointer, but kept it hidden in my enclosed fist. I aimed the light near Ghast and started to move it around. At first he jumped, but after a moment he started chasing it, the rest of the kittens however had already seen through my trick. I put my free hand to my mouth to stifle a giggle as I moved the light along the wall, causing him to try to run up said wall, and fall down on his back. After a few moments of confusing the poor guy I finally broke down and started laughing.

"Ghast, I think *gasp* you are my *cough* favorite!" I continued to laugh (and choke) until I was on the ground holding my stomach. Ghast came over and looked at my face. I grinned and rolled over on my stomach, grabbing him and kissing him on the top of his head. "I love you, cutie." The other cats just froze, and then Foofy started making a weird coughing noise. _I'm not sure if he's kitty-laughing, or dying. _ I blinked and looked to Ghast who just blinked back up at me but, then he licked my nose. "D'awww you're so cute!" Suddenly he looked towards the door, as did the other kittens, so of course I did too, in time to see Vash walk in, wearing her scrubs and carrying her backpack. She looked down at my position on the floor, then to the nine other kittens on the couch, then back to me. Her eyes widened behind her spectacles and she brushed some or her dark brown bangs away from her eyes.

"Uh… where did all these kittens come from?" I frowned at her and stood up, placing Ghast with the rest of his friends and putting my hands on my hips.

"Well that's rude. You're supposed to say "Oh how was your day, Nicky?" *imitating a random lady voice* and then you're supposed to ask about the kitties. But for your information, I have already named them and decided to keep them because they are super smart kitties that I found by the back door. And besides just look at them!" I picked up Izaya and held him up to her face,. "Aren't they just the cutiest?" I said in my best baby voice. Vash just blinked again and smiled at Izaya, scratching behind his ear and walking past me to the bedroom, which by the way in this house there is only one way to get to the bedroom and that is to go through the bathroom as well.

"I'm going to shower and stuff and when I come back we'll talk more about this." She shut the door behind her before I could say anything. I furrowed my brow and pouted.

"Don't let her under-five-foot height fool you Izaya. She's the real head of this house. Though I don't think she can resist you guys." I turned to the rest of the kittens and sat Izaya down. "And besides, I named one Nonopherian, so she'll be really happy, fall in love with you guys, and… we'll have a big happy-kitty-party-dinner-thingy or something like that. Yup yup yup…" I nodded to myself. _She'll do it… I hope. If not I'll just have to kidnap her and lock her in her pharmacy work place and she'll never leave! Bwahahaha! Aw darn, I think I had too much sugar today. Thinking evil thoughts again._

"Well until then, I think I'll just spoil you guys." I grinned and walked over to the couch, kneeling in front of it so I could see the kittens at eye level. "Who will be my first target then, hmmm?" My eyes shifted back and forth between them in a very dramatic way and I finally decided on Professor Layton. I picked him up by the scruff of his neck and cuddled him close to me as I took a seat on the couch next to the group. I flipped the channel to Food Channel and started drooling slightly at the sight of steak. Layton started to purr under my hand while I continued stroking behind his ears and shoulders. The sound of the bathroom door opening didn't make me turn my head, until Vash came out in her normal clothes, fixing her waist length hair into a multi-banded ponytail (because I'm not sure if there is another name for it). She walked in front of the TV with her arms crossed as she surveyed the kittens. They looked back at her and I smiled in a cheesy way with my eyes shining and my hands in a pleading pose. She sighed and shook her head. I snapped my finger, remembering my secret weapon, and picked up Orangey, holding him out to her.

"Here, I named him Nonopherian for you. I think he's the leader kitty." She had a small smile as she took him from my hands, holding him closely to her for a moment while she petted his head. Luckily for her, he didn't scratch or bite, so she set him back where he was. _I guess that just means he hates me. Psh oh well, there are still nine other kitties left to love, otherwise I'd be out of luck._

"Okay, we can keep them but we'll have to split their expenses I guess." I smiled excitedly and cheered from my seat.

"Yay! And now you get to help me make dinner for the babies!" Vash looked over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen.

"You mean, you help me make dinner by standing around and bringing me stuff?" By no means was I a cook at all, so this statement was understandable. All I could do was bake. _And that's all I'll ever be able to do, sigh. Besides box foods at least._ I gave her a thumbs up and stood, kissing Professor Layton on the head before I sat him down with the rest of the kitties and headed off to help Vash with dinner. I had a feeling our life was about to get really interesting from now on.

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Nicky has a thing for kissing things that are cute… well cats in particular. If they were cute puppies she probably would do the same thing.

**Nicky: **Nothin' new there!


	3. Find 'Dem Kitties

**Foosha: **Another chapter already pre-written! Awesomeness! The next one I'm already working on but it might take a bit since I just started University this week. Thank you Newlight13, ICanHasCheezburgr, Chillybean, Yuti-Chan, FangWolf101 and DeeaE for the reviews! Much appreciated to know how I'm doing. :D And thank you all for the favorites! They both make my day. Seriously.

**Nicky: **If you haven't checked them out already, pictures for this story are linked on Foosha's profile!

**Vash:** Heheheh… I can't wait for this chapter.

**Nicky:** Ugh I can wait. =_=

**Foosha:** Shush your muffin mouths you spoilers of surprises!

**Nicky: ***covers mouth*

**Vash:** Whatever weirdoes. Foosha doesn't own any Naruto or any other anime or TV references for that matter.

**Kitty Names:**

Pein = Nonopherian/Orangey

Konan = Lila

Zetsu = Calcifer

Tobi = Helghast

Deidara = Foofy

Sasori = Spirit

Itachi = Izaya

Kisame = Fishy

Hidan = Marshmallow

Kakuzu = Professor Layton

* * *

><p>A bright light peeked its way through the small windows of my room. I put an arm up over my eyes to shield myself, even though I knew I would get up anyways.<p>

"Stupid sun… urgh," I mumbled and sat up, rubbing my eyes with the backs of my hands. Once my eyes finally adjusted I glanced around my room to see no kitties. "Oh yeah…" Last night they all wanted to sleep on my computer desk, since Vash sleeps on the pull-out couch/bed thing. _I hope they don't hate us or something. Maybe they just haven't been around humans in a while._ I shrugged to myself and began my morning routine. Deciding not to shower quite yet, I walked out into the living room to see all the kittens sitting on the couch again. Vash had already left for work. Luckily tomorrow she would have a day off so we could do something with the cats. I sighed to myself and switched on the TV with the remote, turning it to "Cops".

"Here ya go kitties. And how did you sleep?" They just looked up at me, and then went back to watching the screen. I pouted and walked over to the kitchen yelling over my shoulder, "please, don't speak all at once! And I slept fantastically by the way! Now I shall start on some pancakes." _Wait… do these kitties even eat pancakes? _I turned to look at them, holding up the bag of pancake mix. "Do you guys eat pancakes?" Some nodded, others just ignored me. I just had to get the anti-social kitties, didn't I? After about 20 minutes of trying to flip pancakes correctly (and not succeeding in making them normal looking might I add), I put ten pancakes (not Denny's sized pancakes, more like hockey puck sized) on a plate and set it on the floor near the couch, with a placemat underneath and a bowl of milk on the side. I know kittens don't normally eat this food, but I assumed that if they were smart kitties, they would know what was best for them. The kittens followed Orangey down one by one and proceeded to eat after he had taken the first bite. Some looked delighted while others looked indifferent. I sat down on the couch and started eating my own pancakes. _I could eat pancakes forever. And I probably will have to for a while. At least I have them I guess._

After cleaning up everything, I walked in front of the kittens while tying my hair back in a ponytail. "All right kitties, today I have to go outside and water the plants, which will probably take me an hour considering how many my step-sister has," I groaned at the thought of being in the sun for so long but continued, "anyways, you guys are welcome to come outside with me if you want to but you can't wander off okay? I don't wanna lose you guys and have a dog eat you or something." The kittens looked to Orangey, who seemed to be debating the suggestion, before turning to me and nodding. I grinned. "Okay cool. Now then, let's go outside and get this over with!"

I opened all the doors for the kittens ushering them up the stairs and to the back door, then closed the doors behind me as they got outside. At first they stood close to each other in a huddled group, but gradually they started to wander off around the yard in smaller groups, and eventually by themselves. I made sure to keep an eye on all of them as I watered the plants. Calcifer started walking around sniffing at the different flowers as I watered them. I giggled at him and he glanced up at me.

"Be careful, there are a lot of bees around here and I don't want you getting stung. That would suck." I scratched his head a bit before moving on to the next group of flowers to see Lila also admiring them. "Geez, I'm surprised how much some of you guys like flowers, and not just to eat! That's pretty cool." She looked up at me and mewed softly, looking content while I just smiled back. I took a quick glance around to see where the others were at. Fishy was playing in a small fountain that had been hidden away with overgrown bushes. Izaya was sunbathing along with Orangey on the hammock under the large tree that covered a corner of the backyard near the house. Ghast was running around being chased by Foofy, go figure, while Spirit sat in the tree, above Izaya and Orangey, watching them while shaking his head. Last but not least, Professor Layton was just lying in the grass, looking bored and Marshmallow was wandering by the fences, trying to see what was behind them. All was peaceful. I let out a breath I just realized I'd been holding, and moved on to the flowers around the side of the house, still checking the backyard occasionally for trouble. _This is really nice having cats that are smart. Now I don't have to worry so much about them getting into trouble because they'll know better. _Suddenly the neighbor's Chihuahua started barking so I turned my head only to see Marshmallow squeezing under the fence.

"Wah!" I threw the hose on the grass and raced over to the fence to try to grab his retreating legs but, just missed him. "Shit shit shit shit…" I looked at all the other cats, who were looking at me curiously. "You guys stay here, please, I don't want you getting hurt. I'm going to go get him. So stay!" They seemed to understand so I left them and ran around to the front yard, closing the gate behind me, and heading over to the neighbor's backyard. _Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay._ As soon as I turned the corner to see in their backyard I saw Marshmallow go back under the fence with the angry dog chasing after him. "You've gotta be kidding!" My frayed nerves could barely function as I turned on my heel and raced back to the other yard only to see all the cats run out when I opened the gate, chased by the stupid dog who was barking incessantly. The cats scattered into a few smaller groups and before I could go after them, they had all disappeared, including the dog, though I did start to hear other dogs around the neighborhood barking.

"What the hell? This wasn't supposed to happen. What do I do, what do I do?" _Calm down Nicky, let's take this one at a time. _I took a deep breath in through my nose and released it through my mouth, feeling a bit more relaxed. Being able to think more clearly I decided to just start walking around and call out to the kitties, and hopefully, they would come running. But first, I would turn off the hose so I wouldn't intentionally kill the flowers and waste water.

**Marshmallow's POV**

All I was trying to do was kill that fucking dog for my sacrifice to Jashin. Of course though, our jutsus don't fucking work here, so I had to run back to the fucking yard only to have that shithead of a dog follow me back and make the rest of the group run too. And now, we were all fucking lost in fucking crazy-land, where ever the hell this place was. Currently, I was with Profess- er… Kakuzu and we were still being chased by the fucking dog.

_"What the fuck are we supposed to do now?" _He looked over to me and then to a lower brick wall next to us. I got the idea and at the same time, we both jumped on top of it, letting the shithead dog to run straight into it. We watched as it continued barking and tried to jump up to where we were, fortunately though, it lost interest and walked back the way we came. Or was it? I looked around above me and back to Kakuzu who was doing something similar. _"Fuck, where the hell are we?"_

**Nicky's POV**

Okay first things first. I grabbed my bike, making sure the basket was firmly attached (you can never be too prepared) and started off on my rescue mission, not entirely aware that I was still in my gray and white plaid pajama shorts and oversized black t-shirt. Even though I wanted nothing more than to find all the kittens, deep down all I really wanted to do was sit in a corner and cry until they came back. I knew that wouldn't happen though. They would never find their way back unless I helped them. They're only kittens after all, even if they were smart. So despite my inner cowardice, I set off, absurdly clicking my tongue and calling "here kitty kitty kitty" as I rode around the neighborhood. Some people turned my way and gave me weird looks or giggled a bit, and I tried to ignore them, though I was beginning to feel a bit embarrassed. _No! It doesn't matter. All that matters is finding the kitties and making sure they are safe. So suck it up Nicky, we gots work to do! _It might also help my situation if I would have remembered to change out of my pajamas. _Curses._

After riding around for about an hour, I started losing hope. _Already? I'm such a baby! Ugh… but what if they've been taken to the pound by someone already? Or or… what if they were eaten by a bigger dog? Or what if someone decided to keep them? At least they'd have a good home… unless they wanted to have them to torture or feed to their abnormally large pythons. _And then the inevitable happened. I started crying but, being the person I was, I continued riding my bike even though I couldn't see quite properly. At times when I can't particularly describe my emotions, my common sense gets a little hazy. Hell, it's a little hazy all the time. _I can't do anything right. It's all my fault they are going to get hurt. _Even though this problem would seem more trivial to most people, it was a big deal to me, as you can see, I don't have many friends and when I have them, I can't stand to see them hurt or unhappy. So my conscience was really beating me up right now. After much self-arguing, and making myself feel even worse, I decided to take a break and sit on a bench to sort out my thoughts. And that's when I heard it.

**Fishy's POV**

Itachi and I had been walking around a park area for the past hour, still unsure of which way led back to the house. If we were in our usual forms, this would be much easier, though I'm not sure if we'd go back to that girl's house or not. We could easily just kill her and her friend and live there instead until we figured out a way back. That would be an acceptable revenge for naming me "Fishy".

_"What should we do Itachi?"_ Said black cat looked back at me with his usual blank expression.

_"Hn."_ Figures. Even as a cat he barely talks. I took a seat next to him under a large tree. Children were running around playing on some sort of playground structure next to us, while parents just watched and chatted nearby. Compared to our ninja world, this world was so… peaceful, from what we've seen at least. Except for those shows on the television we watched. Perhaps it's not as peaceful in other parts as it is here. Though, I'll admit that it's kinda nice in a way, but I do miss decapitating people and Samehada.

Suddenly, a child with curly red hair and an obnoxiously bright pink colored dress jumped off a swing set and landed next to me. At first she didn't notice us, until she took a step forward and stepped on my tail.

_"Ow! What the hell?"_ Naturally, I swatted at her, but my claws got caught on her shoe laces. _"Shit."_ I shook my paw back and forth, but it wouldn't loosen. The stupid girl looked down at us with wide eyes and gave a toothy grin.

"Kitty! Hi kitty," she yelled near my very sensitive ears, which were now laid flat against my head. Ignoring my hissing warnings she scooped me up in her left arm, letting my legs and body dangle and my head sit squished against my arms. I could hear Itachi hiss at her also, but the next thing I knew he was next to me in her right arm, in a similar position.

"Hey kid. Those are my cats." We both looked up to see that Nicky girl standing over us, not looking amused.

_"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad to see her,"_ I mumbled, losing my breath as the girl held us closer to her. I think Itachi nodded, but I honestly had no idea, my thoughts were getting fuzzy with the lack of air.

**Nicky's POV**

Did I ever mention how much I hate children? Well… I do. And I don't hate anybody! I hate them so very much. The only thing that truly irritates me more than arrogant people is kids. Now, there are some cool kids out there, but it's very rare to find them. Getting back on topic, I found my worst nightmare choking two of my cats, nearly to death. My eye twitched in irritation.

"Hey kid. Those are my cats." I noticed the cats look up to me slightly, seeming uncomfortable. The girl just grinned and held them tighter.

"I found them. Finders keepers!" She stuck her tongue out at me and started running back towards the playground. I followed after her, still somewhat out of breath from riding around. Of course the first place she went was a tunnel. It led up to the top of the structure, and it was made for children, not me. I squeezed myself in and followed after her, ignoring the nagging feeling of claustrophobia creeping up on me. _Don't think about it. Save the kitties from that devil baby! That is the mission!_

"Hey! Give them back! You're hurting them!" _Irritation levels have reached 75%._ I noticed how the kittens continually got smushed against the girl's stomach while she crawled. Stupid child.

When we finally reached the top, she bolted for the bouncy bridge thing, tripping and landing on the cats. I ran over to the bridge to catch her, but I also tripped, allowing her the pick herself up and get away. _Jesus, she won't give up. I thought she would at least start crying. Irritation has risen to 80%._ This was not going to end well.

I sat up quickly, ignoring my skinned knee, and walked carefully across the rest of the hazard, skipping some steps that led up to the slide, where the girl currently sat. She looked over to me and our eyes met. Then she laughed at me, letting go of the handles near her and slipping down the slide, landing safely on the wood chips. Furious, I pushed myself down the slide, only to realize too late I was going too fast, and ended up doing a lovely face plant on the ground. I grumbled some curse words under my breath, sitting myself up on my elbows, to see the girl running over to where her large mother sat. A few wood chips fell from my bangs as I lifted myself up and made my way over to the two.

"Excuse me. It seems your daughter has taken my cats from me. I've been looking for them all day," I said as politely as I could, smiling to add effect. The woman, with equally curly red hair and a tight pink business suit topped off with a ridiculously feathered hat, sneered at me slightly, putting her nose up in the air.

"I'm sorry but these animals don't have any tags on them that I can see. And why would I give them to a filthy homeless girl like you? I could give them a much better home. You probably just saw these cats and wanted to eat them for dinner or something. I mean look at that clothing! Dirty pajamas?" I looked down at my clothes, noticing that they were indeed a bit dirty from chasing the brat. _Irritation is now at 100% and why the heck would I want to eat a cat? There are plenty of others around! Not that I would eat one anyway though… and who talks like that to random people? _I frowned and glared back at the lady, ignoring the tightening feeling in my throat. _Do not cry. Yell at this bitch! Seriously! What a snob._

"You're misunderstanding. This morning they got out and I didn't have time to change to go look for them. I've been looking for over an hour. If you'd kindly give them back, I'll forget this happened." Then that devil woman had the nerve to smirk at me! Smirk! I've never been this irritated with someone in my life (besides the child)! Perhaps this will be the first time for me to get seriously angry. All I wanted to do was beat up her overly made-up face and fat double chin! Blalshflaskdjfl!

"I don't think anyone would believe that. I mean, they're just cats after all. Go find another meal. I'm not giving you money or anything if you stay around, so scat." And then, she shooed me away with her fat, manicured hand with way too much jewelry dangling off. Who goes to the park like this anyway? Why would she wear this much crap? Everything about her was driving me crazy. Her stupid kid was still holding the cats, when suddenly she released them and cried out.

"Ow! Mommy it bit me! Mommy…" she sniffled and ran to her mom, showing her the small bite mark (no blood mind you) on her arm. The woman pulled her close and patted her head, turning up to glare at me.

"Are you happy? Take those filthy pests away. They're not fit for us anyway. Stupid mangy animals." I picked the two kittens up carefully, noticing them to be Izaya and Fishy. Glaring back at the woman I realized I've never been this mad before in my life. Therefore, I had no idea what the next words coming out of my mouth would be.

"Shut the hell up. These cats are awesome, and they are much too cool to be with your bratty little demon and your pompous attitude. Get over yourself, seriously. You're sitting at a bench in a public park for Christ's sake." And with that off my chest I stomped away from her shocked face back to my bicycle and took off, kittens in hand.

_What did I just do? Did I really just yell at that random lady?_ My anger began to subside and now all I could feel was guilt.

"Ugh what was I thinking? I shouldn't have done that. That was so mean. Now I feel terrible…" The cats just looked up at me curiously. I looked back down at them, feeling my face turn into an expression of despair and confusion. "I'm glad to have you back but… I've never been a confrontational person before. I don't know why I got so angry back there. Now I feel awful. Stupid stupid stupid stupid children. I hate children. It's all her fault… but it's my fault too. Ugggggghhhh…."

I continued to mutter my confused feelings to the cats as we cycled our way around the neighborhood once again, continuing the search for the rest of them. _I wonder what Vash will think when I tell her what happened?_

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Who knew Nicky had a temper? Poor her and her contradicting, confused personality.

**Nicky: **Not me. This is just a one-time thing.

**Foosha: **We'll see about that… kekekeke…


	4. MBGKF!

**Foosha: **Woot! I'm on a roll. Didn't think I'd finish with this one so soon. The next one might not be for a bit depending on my school schedule. Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to Crescent Moons Suicide for being an awesome friend and giving me the confidence to put this story up in the first place! I love you! :D Also thank-you Chillybean for being awesome and talking to me about story stuff and random stuff! And a huge thanks to the reviews from ICanHasCheezburgr, Yuti-Chan, DeeaE, and of course Kim (whom Vash is based on), you guys are really a big help and it makes me very happy that you are enjoying the story as much as I am writing it. :D Also thanks to anyone who added my story to their favorites or watch list (whatever it's called)! You're all amazing!

**Nicky: **This chapter is embarrassing…

**Vash: **Suck it up.

**Nicky:** *sigh* Foosha doesn't own Naruto blah blah blah etc. Or any other random references, particularly song references. Let's get this humiliating thing over with.

**Foosha: **Argh, my back hurts from typing this thing forever.

**Vash: **You should probably work on your posture then. On with the story.

**Kitty Names:**

Pein – Nonopherian/Orangey

Konan – Lila

Zetsu – Calcifer

Tobi – Helghast

Deidara – Foofy

Sasori – Spirit

Itachi – Izaya

Kisame – Fishy

Kakuzu – Professor Layton

Hidan – Stupidhead I mean… *cough*Marshmallow

* * *

><p>By the time I got back to the house, I realized that Vash was home. Not even bothering to stand my bike up properly, I grabbed the kittens and tossed the bike on the grass, racing towards the back door. A surprised looking Vash stood near the entry, holding a key in her hand.<p>

"Nicky? What's up?" I stopped in front of her, trying to catch my breath.

"Vash the kittens got out and now I dunno where they are and I can't find them except for these two so I need to go back out and look for them again so you should come with me too 'cause I don't wanna lose them forever!" She gave me a confused look (since I forgot to breathe during that sentence), but frowned when she realized what I said.

"Okay. Let's put these guys inside so they don't get out and go look for the rest." I nodded and followed her in, setting the kittens down on the couch and refilling their water bowl. _Thank goodness Vash is so levelheaded. I don't know if I could try to find the rest without having another freak-out. _Vash went into the bedroom to change out of her scrubs and into more suitable "cat-chasing" clothing. I looked to the kittens, who immediately went to the bowl of water and were lapping it up eagerly.

"Okay guys, I'm sorry. It's my fault this happened, but I promise I'll find all your friends. So… don't worry, okay?" I patted them both on the head while exhaling a breath of anxiety. _Now that Vash is here, we can do twice the looking. It'll be okay._

"I'm ready. Let's get going." I looked back to Vash who was in her signature outfit, besides scrubs; random college tee and jeans. A small smile made its way onto my face and I nodded. Determination spread through me, and even though doubts still clouded my mind, I knew I'd keep trying to find them no matter what. …Unless I died. _Hopefully that doesn't happen._ _Of course it won't. Stupid worrisome thoughts._

We walked back out to the front yard, after making sure Izaya and Fishy were safe inside, and decided to split up the neighborhood. She would take her bike while I took mine and together we would form a mini bike gang of kitten finders. _I'll call it MBGKF! _And with a new sense of purpose, and a promise of notification if we found any kittens, we set off into the obnoxiously bright 5 o'clock sun.

**Vash's POV**

About a half hour after we started out, I passed a house with an older couple sitting out on their front porch, each in their own rocking chair. The older woman waved a bit while I rode by, so to be polite I waved back and that's when I noticed a familiar looking bluish grey cat sitting on her lap. I stopped my bike, leaning it on a nearby tree and jogged up to the old woman.

"Um excuse me. Where did you get that cat?" She smiled at me, petting the cat again. Said cat, who I recognized to be Lila, looked up at me with a look of recognition.

"Oh my, I just saw her walking along with this strange orange cat here," she motioned to Nonopherian who was sitting near her feet, "so I had my husband bring them over to me. They looked very lost. Are they yours?" I nodded to her, noticing the grumpy look her husband was giving from the corner of my eye.

"Yeah, my friend and I have been looking for them all day. We thought we might have lost them." Again the old woman smiled while handing me Lila.

"Well here you are then. I won't pick up the orange one because he seems a bit finicky, so I'll let you. I'm glad I was able to help you out." I gave her a smile back and picked up Nonny (his nickname).

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate the help. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to keep looking for the other cats." With a small wave, I made my way back to the bike, setting the cats in a small basket on the front. The woman waved back to me after assuring me she would look out for any other cats that were wandering around. _How lucky was that. Now we only need six more. Ugh that's still a lot. _I patted Nonny absent mindedly and proceeded around the block to continue looking. _I wonder how Nicky is doing._ Remembering our deal, I whipped out my phone and texted Nicky who I found.

**Nicky's POV**

"Oh thank goodness!" After reading the text from Vash I felt somewhat better about my bad luck. _At least we're making progress. Now I just gotta be on the lookout for strange colored cats._ Easier said than done I suppose. But nothing is too difficult for the MBGKF! And so my journey continued. Only a few blocks later, I came across the first sign of a potential smart kitty sighting: an animal control truck with a few officers (or whatever the heck they're called in animal control) wandering around near a local Harmon's market. I propped my bike on its stand and gathered my courage to talk to one of the officers. Authority figures have always had an intimidating effect on me. Come to think of it, most people have an intimidating effect on me. _Stupid awkwardness._

"E-excuse me sir, what's going on here?" _Even stumbled over my own words. At least I said something though. _The guy turned around, revealing a tall thin figure with cropped blonde hair and a wild mustache. His expression was very serious.

"We have a report of some kittens wandering around here that appear to have been abused. We've been told they had strange markings and that someone dyed their fur. Have you seen anything suspicious?" He looked right into my eyes, raising a bushy eyebrow. _No way! I'm a terrible liar! Now what?_

"Yes. I saw some strange kittens at the p-park over by Smith's. Some pink lady was holding them." _Not completely lying, so believe me!_ His look turned even more suspecting as he put a hand to his mustache, twiddling it thoughtfully._ I wish I could have a mustache to do that with… wait what? _

"Well maybe I'll have someone check it out. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for anything." He totally knew I knew something. I know I looked guilty. I always look guilty if someone suspects me of something. I can't help it, even if I didn't do anything! That or I start laughing._ Stupid mind and its stupid reactions._

Giving him a nervous smile (or grimace) I sidled away from him and continued to walk into the store to relax for a bit. I sighed in relief when the cool air hit me after the doors opened. _Shows how embarrassed I am if my face feels this hot._ I glanced around and decided to walk down the frozen desserts aisle so I could settle down.

"I like to oat, oat, oat opples and bononos. I like to iat, iat, iat, ipples and bininis. I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas!" I sung this obnoxious song as I took abnormally long steps, observing the different ice creams as I passed them while trying to take my mind off the scary officer guy. _Okay, he said that someone saw some kittens around here… so they'll probably be outside around the building somewhere. I'm kinda scared to go back out there though if that dude is there. What if I get arrested or something? I couldn't handle jail! It's filthy and the people would make me cry probably!_ While I was busy having another anxiety attack (and ending up having wandered to the "chips aisle"), a couple bags of Doritos came crashing down in front of me. I yelped and turned to the place where they fell to see Ghast, Cal, Foofy, and Spirit looking confused, surprised and… neutral I guess.

"I found you!" I cried, and grabbed them all, hugging them close to me and kissing the tops of their heads. "I thought I might have lost you for good you know. Now you're staying with me!" Relieved, I decided it would be in my best interest to get out of the store as quickly as possible with the dude-guys snooping around, so I picked up a bag of chips to put back on the shelf.

"Excuse me miss, what are you doing?" I froze at the voice I heard behind me. Not knowing what else to do, I did the first thing that came to mind; I shoved the smaller bag of chips with the kittens underneath my shirt, when a hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. It was a young guy with brunette hair and a uniform similar to the guy from earlier. He looked at me questionably then looked down to my bulging stomach, which I was holding onto with my hands. "What are you hiding there?" He reached out to grab my shirt and I swatted his hand away, feeling the burning of embarrassment come back to my face.

"I-I'm pregnant you jerk-face! How rude!" And suddenly, without even questioning why the bulge was slightly misshapen, he also turned red and glanced away from me, looking nervous.

"I'm s-s-so sorry miss! I've just been paranoid about some people hiding these abused cats that were wandering around here. I-I shouldn't have assumed-" I wouldn't let him finish though, in case my confidence faded.

"You should be! That's terrible! You should never point out that part on a woman, whether it looks pregnant or not! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going, good day sir!" And with that I stomped/waddled off, trying to keep the chips and kittens balanced against my stomach while I walked (which is extremely difficult, even though they were sitting still).

Once I was in the bread aisle, and sure that the guy was gone, I breathed out slowly and removed the kittens from my shirt, setting them on a shelf along with the now crushed chips. And then, all the stress of the situation from before hit me and I started laughing and then snorting. I couldn't believe I did something so silly in front of a random stranger! Just shows what you'll do when you're determined I suppose. That or too embarrassed to process information properly.

"Who knew I could pull off something like that? Hahaha! You guys are just full of trouble, you know that?" I grinned at the kittens and patted each of their heads. "I love you guys. Now let's get the heck outta this place and tell Vash you're not dead." With another sigh of relief, I took the kittens, under my shirt again, and walked right out of the store, receiving some strange looks, but none from the guys that mattered. _And now back to the house! Only two kittens left!_

**Kitty POV (now reporting from under Nicky's shirt!)**

"_How lucky was that, yeah? I never expected to be found again," _Deidara mumbled to no one in particular. He felt another furry body shift next to him.

_ "Exactly why Tobi was getting food so Tobi wouldn't starve!"_ There was a light "thwack" sound as Deidara swatted Tobi over the head (or at least tried to in his awkward position). Sasori sighed from their right and adjusted himself to a more comfortable arrangement.

_"I was getting tired of waiting to be found… but I suppose it's better we waited than going with those men from that animal control place." _Some of the other kittens nodded and suddenly there was a low grumble and Nicky's voice could be heard laughing nervously.

"Sorry guys, I guess I'm kinda hungry after running around all day." Some of the kittens stomachs also growled in agreement. Zetsu wiggled a bit restlessly in his position closest to Nicky's stomach.

_"This position__is__** strange… It makes me hungry." **_

_"Probably because you're near human flesh, hm." _Deidara agreed to himself.

_"Why does Tobi see polka-dots?" _The other cats focused on Tobi as he gazed upwards, causing the rest to also look up.

_"Ah, I think that's her bra," _Sasori said thoughtfully. And the rest of the walk was quiet, until they were set in the bike basket, and pedaled back to safety.

**Vash's POV**

Only a few moments ago, I got a text from Nicky saying she found four other kittens. _Thank god. No more riding these bikes for a while._ I was sitting on the front porch of the house waiting for her return while petting Nonny and Lila. I think these two cats were my favorite so far; both calm and graceful, and just plain awesome. Especially in their colors. And especially Nonny. Who wouldn't love those random spots on his face?

"Perhaps this event is a good bonding experience for us all," Vash whispered to the cats. They looked up at her for a moment, then at each other. Vash sighed. "I'm acting like Nicky now, talking to animals. I guess that's okay though, since you guys seem to understand what we're saying to an extent." Suddenly there was a loud squeaking of rubber and Vash looked up from her lap to see Nicky stopped in front of the house panting.

"I made it! And look who I got!" Spirit, Calcifer, Helghast and Foofy all popped out of her bike basket. I smiled a bit.

"Now we're only missing two," I said quietly. Nicky gathered up her cats while I carried Lila and Nonny, and we both made our way to the back door again, making sure the gate was closed tight and the hole in the fence was now blocked.

"Hey! Look!" Nicky shouted, pointing near a bush by the back door. As I walked closer I noticed two familiar kittens sitting under the shrub, looking tired. Nicky picked up Marshmallow and started scolding him. "It's you and your big ego that started this mess mister! You guys could have died you know…" And before I knew it, she was crying while squeezing the poor kitten close to her. The others just sat on the ground watching the scene. _Emotional Nicky as always._

I also decided to kneel down and acknowledge Professor Layton. He seemed pretty independent, but I still wanted to give him some recognition, so after setting down the other two I picked him up and scratched behind his ear.

"Good job at finding your way back little guy. And you even kept track of Marshmallow. Impressive indeed." He almost seemed to nod in agreement. I laughed lightly and opened the doors to our home. "Well let's go in guys, I think we had enough adventure for one day."

"And exercise! I think it's time for ice cream and cookies!" I shook my head and chuckled, following her in after the kittens.

"I don't know why you're so concerned with eating sweets only when you think you've had a good enough workout." Nicky just grinned at my sheepishly.

"'Cause I feel guilty eating all this crap and not being largely obese. I know it'll just creep up on me one day and BAM! I won't be able to get out of bed without rolling."

"Well if that's the case, I'll just help you." She just sighed and shook her head, collapsing onto the couch with Foofy in her arms.

"You don't even care about my health! How cruel, Vash. You'll just let me get all fat, and probably feed me more when I complain about wanting more sweets! And then I'll die of a crazy heart attack, and probably fall and land on the kittens when I die, and squish them, killing them also!" I just nodded to her and took a seat next to her on the couch. No use in arguing with an incredibly tired Nicky. She'll just start to make less and less sense.

I looked over the kittens, who were now reunited with each other and conversing, drinking or resting. Somehow, even though it was completely insane to have this many kittens, I had a feeling that it would work out. Nicky seems to be coming out of her shell more often than usual, so that's good. And we're both getting outside so that's even better. Maybe this is exactly what we needed in our life; an abnormal amount of random responsibility to wake us up from the daily monotony. Puts us on our toes I suppose. _Heh. That rhymed._ Suddenly, Nicky shot up from her seat, nearly throwing Foofy into the ceiling, before placing him gently down on the floor with the others. She turned to me with a grin.

"I call shower first!" And before I could even respond, she ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

"Well then, I hope we don't have another one of these instances for a while," I said loudly, looking to the kittens who were somewhat paying attention. I especially focused on Marshmallow while narrowing my eyes a bit. "No more running off, got it? Otherwise you don't get to do fun stuff with the other cats and I won't make you food. Nicky will." He just hissed at me slightly before turning back to the water bowl. I smirked a bit, feeling better for lecturing him before I laid my head back against the couch and closing my eyes. "Trouble-prone kitties…"

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><p><strong>Foosha:<strong> I know it's strange that they still haven't turned into humans yet, but I figure that if they were human, they could just kill Nicky and Vash and chill at their place or something. So-

**Nicky: **I DON'T WANT TO DIE YET! I'm not ready! T_T *cries and rolls up into a ball*

**Foosha: **Anyways… I gotta make sure they somehow feel like they don't have to kill them before they turn back. You know what I mean? Anyways… thanks for reading and keep up the reviews! They really motivate me to get chapters out faster, not that you have to, it just helps and it's nice to know what my readers are thinking. :D


	5. Of Sniper Rifles and Rocket Launchers

**Foosha: **I don't know who has possessed me to write this much, but I'm not complaining. I've never actually written this much for a story before and it's awesome! Thank-you jaevees, Hex Aether, DeeaE, Chillybean, ICanHasCheezburgr and Yuti-Chan for the reviews! I seriously love you guys and you're the ones who keep me writing! And of course I have to thank Kim and Crescent Moons Suicide for being awesome friends and inspiring me to write even when I'm not sure what to say. All of you get a kitty! *hands Marshmallow*

**Nicky: **I dun think you should be givin' away special plot kitties…

**Vash: **Nah, let her. It's just Marshmallow.

**Nicky: **Errr…..'kay. Foosha doesn't own Naruto, video game references, Spider-man, movie references, or …kitties.

**Foosha: **I wish I had a kitty, but honestly I probably wouldn't be writing any stories if I did. Also, sorry if there are any repeated sentences. I checked and it doesn't show any but when I go read through the story, it shows some. I don't understand T_T

**Vash: **Get your priorities straight; homework first. *sends her to her room without supper*

**Nicky: **For kitten names, please refer back to the other chapters. If you feel strongly about having another list please let Foosha know and she'll post one on this chapter also.

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><p>It's been about two weeks since the kittens arrived on our back doorstep and we've fallen into a routine of sorts. Vash still has another week or two left of her internship so usually she's off working and when she comes home, we watch a movie or play video games, eat dinner and do random things until bed time. During the day however, I've taken it upon myself to educate the kitties with what TV shows are awesome, how to play video games (more entertaining for me really, I was instructing kittens after all and all they did was stare at the screen), what desserts look amazing that I wanted to make (or have Vash make), Miyazaki movies, and how to random dance (since I don't think I can really dance). In these two weeks… I've realized I have favorites, even though I try to give all the kittens' equal attention.<p>

Ghast is always so playful and it's fun just to mess with him. Actually, I like to try to scare all the kittens. Hardly ever works though. Anyways, I love Cal, he's just adorable. Every time we've given them meat for dinner, Cal tries to rip into it like a vicious beast, though he only has kitten teeth so he can only do so much. Still cute though. He follows me around sometimes, tryin' to be all sneaky like.

I've also grown randomly attached to playing with Foofy's hair. It's just so soft and fluffy. Sometimes Spirit and him will randomly watch me when I decide to doodle. I'm not the best artist, but I still like to draw a lot and look at other people's drawings on the computer, which they also like to watch. Fishy has also been pretty cool. He's just like a living stuffed animal so whenever I decide to randomly pick him up he'll just relax in my arms. He's like a big kitty baby. The best kind of baby if you ask me.

Some of the cats will venture into my room occasionally during the night now. And sometimes I'll take one in with me and they'll lay next to me on the bed for a bit before I fall asleep, but they're never there when I wake up. Oh well though. No cat I've ever had likes me enough to actually let me cuddle with them for that long. Thank goodness though, not all of them look at me like I'm stupid like my past cats. Not all the time at least… Regardless, I still love them all equally (for the most part)!

Moving on, today was a Thursday like any other and I decided to show Ghast Killzone 3 so he could see the dudes he was named after. After grabbing a bowl of popcorn, I sat on the couch, some kittens jumping up to sit next to me and beg for popcorn. I took a few pieces and placed them in front of the kittens to nibble on while I started up the game.

"Okay so see these red-eyed guys? These are called the "Helghast" and they are evil guys tryin' to take over the world or something. I'm actually not too sure what they're doing. I haven't paid much attention to the story, only how it looks. And it looks awesome!" As I explained it to him (and whatever other kittens were paying attention), I had left my seat and was now standing in front of our somewhat large television, pointing to the characters and objects I was talking about.

"All right then. I'm gonna start it up and it's going to be intense. This will be your viewing of your first rated "M" video game. Now let's do it!" The other games I had shown them were on the Wii, including Animal Crossing (I finally caught the dragonfly!), Okami, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. All relatively mellow games. Usually when I wanted to play any shooters, I had to be in a certain mood. Otherwise, I'd just get frustrated and not want to play them again. Today I was in a mood to shoot some stuff after finding claw marks all over the leather couch. But sometimes I want to play shooting games when I'm hyper, too. Yeah, I'm not sure why either.

Suddenly sounds of gun shots and explosions filled the room when the story mode started up. Some guy was talking and saying really lame dialogue (**Foosha**: seriously, it's pretty lame), so I ignored him and skipped through the scene to where I could move around.

"I really wish you could be a Helghast as the main character in this game. Those guys look soooo cool and they even have these crazy mutant cat/robot thingys later on. Are you guys even paying attention?" I looked to the cats to see them immobilized by the giant explosions of tanks blowing up and guns shooting off everywhere. "Sheesh. Didn't think you would be so entranced by the violence. Just don't let me catch you breaking anything in this house. Otherwise… Vash will get you *insert random flash of lightning here*." I decided to continue to play, thinking they would get used to it at some point. Creeping through the high grass, I was required to get through this next area without letting anyone spot me, or else I would die a horrible death from a guy in a silver version of the "Green Goblin" suit.

"_**SCRREEEEEEEEEEECHHHHHHH" **_I jumped a bit in my seat, surprised by the sudden noise that came from the giant cat robot thing that landed in front of my guy, causing me to accidentally move my character and catching the creature's attention.

"Oh my god I forgot how terrifying this part is! Here!" I tossed the controller to Ghast and covered my eyes, "you play!" This was something I regularly did with Vash while playing games. I would get into them and then a scary part would come up, so I'd hand the controller to Vash to get through it for me. Not hearing the sound of death, I peeked through my hands to see the characters moving slightly (and very awkwardly) away from the cat creature. And then, there were gun shots! I blinked and looked to Ghast to see him moving one thumbstick with his paw, Foofy moving the right thumbstick (looking slightly annoyed with Ghast's lack of ability to make the character walk), and Fishy pushing the trigger button.

"You… you're playing?" I giggled maniacally and then I was filled with excitement and thoughts of possibilities. _I could totally YouTube this! Or they can just play games with me from now on when Vash is gone! Oh my gosh this is so awesome! Bwaaaaaa! _The screen of death brought me out of my rant, though I could still feel the giant smile on my face.

"You guys! That was awesome! Even though you didn't survive, like… wow! That was incredible! Do you know what this means?" I got right in their face, with wide excited eyes. They looked slightly scared as they shook their heads. "This means you guys can play games with me! Oh my god! We could even play online when you get better! How funny would that be if you beat some random dudes on there? Pretty awesome, I'd say." I continued to ramble as the kittens just looked at me oddly.

**Kitty POV**

_"Is… is this what their world is really like?"_ Konan asked quietly over the loudness of the video game. She sat on the floor beneath the couch, next to Pein, who remained emotionless as usual. Sasori padded over to sit next to them.

_"If it is, we'd be in serious trouble if we were to turn back into our human forms now. We can't sense them since they have no chakra, and the weapons they use seem incredibly powerful."_ Hidan scoffed from his seat near Tobi on the couch.

_"Yeah right. We're the fucking Akatsuki. Like these shitheads could take us out,"_ he growled confidently. Kakuzu nodded in agreement, surprisingly.

_"For once, I agree with him. Their machinery seems quite costly and clunky. If we were to take them all out, there is no way they could afford to make enough more to destroy us. Not to mention how long it would take to construct something that complex."_

_"I suppose that is true, if worse came to worse we could probably take out these weapons if the circumstance called for it,"_ Pein reasoned to the others. Some nodded until Kisame spoke up, pointing a paw to the screen, since Nicky was now playing.

_"Uh… what about those things?"_ The kittens looked back to the television to see Nicky zoomed in on an enemy figure, with some sort of small cross marking the enemy's head. Suddenly a shot was fired and he instantly fell dead.

_"Even through the heavy looking armor, the projectile still reached his brain and killed him. What would that mean for us, without armor or a way to sense the enemy?"_ questioned Konan, a crease forming on her kitty forehead. Again, Hidan groaned in aggravation.

_"I could fucking handle that shit. I'm fucking immortal and-" _

_"Perhaps it'd be best to find our way back home and then worry about becoming human again after. If we were to come across a group of those, there would be a low chance of surviving,"_ Itachi muttered under his breath, surprising the other kittens with his amount of speech. Some of the others began to nod slowly.

_"But I could bomb them from above and they wouldn't have a chance, yeah," _Deidara argued and Sasori gave him a look.

_"Shut-up brat. What if they called in their flying units that are much more efficient than your bird and have quicker access to bombs? Then we would be surrounded both above and on ground level. We still don't know how their weapons work either and with no way to predict that it might as well be a suicide attempt. Even if Hidan could get through most of them with his immortality, he could still get blown apart by explosions from those tank things and there'd be no way to fix him with us all being preoccupied. These people use long range combat, so we would have a hard time getting close to them at all."_ The other kittens who weren't quite sold on the idea of being defeated before nodded unsettlingly at the outcome of the situation. Even Hidan was quiet for once. Pein looked to the rest of them, giving them a quick nod.

_"It's settled. Our new plan will be to find our way back before turning into humans. Is that clear?"_ The rest nodded. _"Now, we need to think back to what happened before we got here. Does anyone remember anything?"_ They looked between each other, some shrugging slightly. Tobi jumped down from the couch to join the half-circle forming on the floor.

_"Oh oh! Tobi remembers the angry lady!"_ Deidara rolled his eyes and sat down next to Tobi, whapping him upside the head.

_"Of course we all remember that idiot, un. It's the reason we're cats in the first place! We're talking about what happened after, yeah." _Tobi tried to rub the back of his head with his paw, though it's kind of difficult when you're a cat. Kisame finally joined the group, a thoughtful look on his face.

_"I remember being in that box for a while before being moved around again. And then… I remember hissing noises. Like snakes or something." _And as if realizing the same thing, the kittens who did share expressions turned exasperated, muttering "Orochimaru... mumble mumble evil snake man mumble mumble" or something similar under their breaths.

_"We should have known **that pest was behind all this**,"_ Zetsu mumbled crossly as he flexed his claws.

"Hey guys, whatcha talkin' about?" The kittens jumped and realized Nicky was watching them carefully with a curious expression. "Seems pretty important. Do you guys wanna play or something?" She sat a second controller on the couch next to her, and before any of the kittens could do anything, Hidan launched himself at the controller with a determined look in his eye.

_"I'll show you bitch. I can beat fucking anything!" _Kakuzu placed a paw on his forehead. Nicky just smirked.

"Oh of course you would want to play, wouldn't you Marshy? Come on tough guy, show me how good you are," she taunted at him. Getting even more riled up, Hidan complied as the game began, trying his best to keep up with all the controls and sometimes just smashing whatever buttons were closest. The rest of the group turned away from the intent video game players.

_"You know, at one point I remember the box opening enough to see some sort of vortex after hearing Orochimaru perform a kind of forbidden jutsu," _Kakuzu remarked scratching an ear with his back foot, one of the many kitty habits the group had begun to pick up after watching plenty of animal programs. Pein nodded his head.

_"Yes I remember that too. So Orochimaru is behind this then. Perhaps if there is a portal here, there is a portal back as well. We'll just have to find it." _He gave the group a stern look,_ "our new mission is to stay hidden in these forms and to search for the possibility of a portal back to our world. Whenever we possess the opportunity, we must look for this portal, understood?" _The members nodded, attention returning to the screen to see Hidan dying horribly, a string of curses soon following.

**Nicky POV**

"_I have the weirdest cats ever," _was all I could think as I watched them conversing with each other. I wonder if I could ever learn cat language.

"Oh! I forgot I need to take out the garbage!" I hopped up from my seat on the couch, nearly tripping in the process, and bagged up the garbage to take it out. When I turned back around I saw that Professor Layton had taken my place with the other controller, having a bit of difficulty in figuring it out, but all together pissing off Marshmallow, while he sat hissing at the screen. "Be good guys! I'll BRB!" I called back to them, making my way up the stairs and out the door.

It was relatively cool outside today compared to how it had been recently. Probably about in the high eighty's with a light breeze. _Just right._ I placed the garbage in its appropriate container, turning around to head back inside and coming face to face with the next door neighbor, peeking her done-up face over the fence. When she saw me she smiled and beckoned me over.

"Oh Nicky! Just the young lady I was looking for!" _Uh… who is this person? _I kept my face blank and gave her a confused look.

"Oh… what for?" She checked her watch looking preoccupied and looked back to me for a moment, adjusting the purse strap on her shoulder.

"Nicky I need you to babysit my daughter Rin for a few hours. I just have some shopping to take care of, so you won't mind will you? Of course not! I hardly ever see you leave so I'm sure you'll love the company. One moment, let me go get her." And as quickly as she appeared, she left, leaving me dumbstruck.

"Wait… what? I never agreed…" and then something clicked in my mind, "wait! Children! I can't deal with children!" While I was busy having a meltdown, the woman returned in front of my backyard gate and knocked before inviting herself in. She pushed a young girl in front of her while motioning to me.

"Rin, this is your new babysitter from now on. Her name is Nicky. Now you two get along. Oh and Nicky here's your money for today." The woman strode towards me and grabbed my hand (for I was too shocked to react), putting in five twenty's. "Have fun you two!" And with that she was gone, leaving me with my mouth slightly ajar, hand outstretched with a ridiculous amount of money for a babysitting session of a few hours, and still no idea how I got into this mess. There was a coughing noise and I looked down to see the girl looking at me. I guess she was pretty cute for a kid. She had long dark brown hair and sandy colored eyes. She was wearing a black shirt with some sort of rainbow unicorn on it, a jean skirt and black leggings, but the thing that caught my attention was her backpack. I suddenly snapped back into reality and kneeled next to her to see the item up close.

"Is this a Totoro backpack!" She just nodded slightly, while my eyes remained locked on the masterpiece. "It's adorable! Where did you get it?" And with that, there was an instant connection. She wasn't a normal kid anymore to me but, an awesome child of awesomeness! I pulled her inside the house, rambling about my favorite parts in "My Neighbor Totoro" as I lead her to the extra space on the couch and telling her to sit. The kittens were looking up at me with quizzical expressions, so I waved my hand towards Rin to get their attention.

"Gentlemen and lady cats, this is Rin. She is my new responsibility for the moment… so… yeah don't be mean to her or anything! Also," I looked to Marshmallow, shaking a finger at him, "No scratching up her backpack or I will let you stay outside all night and not even care. I know you're the one who's been scratching the couch, you little smore-head!" He just looked at me like a regular kitten would, but I knew better! He had an evil glint in his eye, like he always does. I shook my finger at him again, adding a glare to seem more menacing before returning my attention back to Rin.

"So… uh… what do kids like to do anyway? Are you hungry or something?" _Please don't be hungry, pleeeease. I only have one macaroni left! Actually…_ I remembered the random money I just received sitting comfortably in the right pocket of my sweats and grinned. "All right! Now I can get more smoothie stuff and steak! Woo!" I danced around a bit in a circle. _I call it "The Dance of the Money Fairy"!_

"If you can't cook, I can make my own food_," _Rin offered off-handedly while inspecting the kitchen. _Ouch. Is it that obvious?_ I just laughed and nodded.

"Yeah... I'm not that good of a cook. What can you make?" I asked, genuinely interested as I picked up Spirit holding him against my shoulder and scratching behind his ears. My mom never taught me how to cook so it surprised me how what appeared to be a seven year old, was cooking her own meals.

She didn't answer at first, and began sifting through the small amount of cooking materials in the fridge, finally emerging with a loaf of white bread (it lasts longer in the fridge!) and some cheddar cheese.

"I'm making grilled cheese. I usually make my own food because momma and poppa aren't home." Now I felt kinda bad, but I'm pretty awkward with sympathy so I decided not to say anything relating to her parents.

"Oh that's cool. Can I watch?" She nodded slowly and got to work, completing her masterpiece in a few minutes. It looked perfect! For a grilled cheese, I mean. We both took a seat on the couch, her with her sandwich and me with Spirit on my lap. The other kittens jumped up on the couch, lounging themselves around me and Rin as I turned the television on to "Castle in the Sky" (another Miyazaki movie I love).

"You seem like a pretty cool kid. I guess you can hang out here whenever you're lonely or whatever." I muttered, trying to hold back my embarrassment at inviting a girl younger than me, though far more intimidating, over to my house. My eyes shifted to my right where she was sitting, to see her offering a small piece of her sandwich to Izaya and Ghast, who took them happily. I smiled a bit. _Yeah she does seem pretty cool. Maybe I'll have a kid someday if she's like this._ _Quiet and able to cook and also liking awesome things like kitties and Totoro. Yeah… _

"I'll probably be doing that anyways. Momma has been watching you for the past week and said you were going to be my second home from now on." My eye twitched in response. _That devil woman… at least her child is tolerable._ Suddenly, the door to outside was pushed in rapidly by an out of breath Vash. I blinked

"Hey Vash, I have some… interesting news-" She cut me off though.

"Me too. Jen is home early."

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><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Whapping is totally a word! It's another word for hitting! Sometimes I just pull words out of nowhere and they turn out to be real words after all.

**Nicky: **So… what's the story with the lady and the kitties?

**Foosha: **That my dear Nicky is for another time. Dun dun dunnn! Oh no Jen is home early! If you don't remember, Jen is Nicky's step-sister who isn't a fan of cats and may or may not (more likely) want ten kittens living below her. So I suppose it's kinda like a cliff-hanger. Bahaha my first one!

**Nicky: **And who's this Rin girl anyways?

**Foosha: **You will find out Nicky, soon enough, soon enough (at the rate I've been updating).

**Nicky: **Ugh I hate waiting! T_T

**Vash: **You'll survive.

**Foosha: **Just put up a new picture of Nicky, Vash and Rin! The link is on my profile if you want to take a look.


	6. The Shenanigans of Kitties

**Foosha: **Say, I have a random fact for you all! I made a new picture that includes Nicky, Vash and Rin and Nicky looks extremely tall. The random fact is, Nicky is 5"5 and Vash is just 4"11. The poor dear. So in reality they are all short, though I guess Rin has an excuse.

**Vash: ***eye twitch* Are you talking about me by chance, Foosha? If so, I would be careful. *cracks knuckles*

**Foosha:** *picks up a bat from the floor and holds it protectively* Ehehehehe…. Anyways… Thanks for the reviews from my regulars; (haha! I have regulars, crazy!) Chillybean, Hex Aether, DeeaE, Yuti-Chan, and ICanHasCheezburgr! I have much love for you all *air hugs*. Thanks for the favs and story add things too all you people who did that! I love you too :D. And a special thank-you to Dom (Rin's creator) and Kim for being awesome as always.

**Nicky: **Anyways… let's get on with the story already! I hate cliff-hangers. I mean… how can popcorn just disappear?

**Foosha: ***sits in a dark corner* I know I know… how could I forget about the popcorn? Stupid stupid stupid…

**Vash: **Foosha doesn't own Naruto ideas or persons or video game references or Sharper Image. Otherwise, she'd be rich and have an infinite supply of Del Nachos.

**Foosha: **Also! I drew my reviewers a thank-you picture. It's on my deviantart account, linked on my profile :D And please read the note at the bottom!

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><p>"Wha…what? I thought she wasn't coming back 'til next week?" I squeaked, now holding Spirit uncomfortably close to me (probably for him at least). Vash and I had been planning on figuring out how to hide the kittens from Jen, at least until we were able to properly ask her if it was all right. Now though, we would have to improvise. <em>And that's something I'm good at. Well… not really.<em> _I'm just good at making up something so random that people end up more confused than anything and forget about what I just said._ _It works at least._ Vash tossed her backpack on the ground and took off her shoes, placing them in the shoe rack near the door. Not something she'd usually do but, I've forced her into the habit of removing her shoes.

"Well, I've got to get cleaning. You should try to find hiding spots for the kittens. I guess Jen is finally coming down to take a look at the drain problem and will be here in an hour," she muttered and began grabbing some cleaning supplies from underneath the kitchen sink. I swallowed and looked from the kittens to Rin, who was just staring up at me, unblinking.

"You can take them to my house if you want. I'll hide them there until it's safe for them to come back," she offered while motioning to the kittens. _Thank you universe for this helpful little angel child you happened to send to me! It was very convenient! …Perhaps too convenient… _"How about I take a few of them right now?" And without even waiting for directions, she picked up Izaya (whom I noticed was her favorite so far), Lila, and I handed her Spirit so she could maneuver them in her arms without dropping them.

"Do you need some help?" I asked, feeling somewhat useless. Vash had taken over the household chores, and Rin had taken care of what would happen to the kittens, so… what was left? Rin looked to me and then to the ceiling as we both heard the sound of footsteps walking across the floor and to the back steps. I held my breath and picked up the remaining kittens, setting them into a blanket and using it as a make-shift basket. "I guess this will have to wait. We have to hide them now!" Hurriedly I made my way into my room, releasing the corners of the blanket so the kittens could move about. Rin followed behind me and set her three kittens on the ground with the rest.

"Where to hide you, where to hide you…" _Light bulb ding!_ "Okay you guys, listen up. I'm gonna set you somewhere, and you guys have to stay still okay? You have to stay like that until I say it's okay to move again. Otherwise… that could be the end of keeping you guys here." The kittens looked to one another and nodded. "All right good. Now uh…" I picked up Calcifer and stuck him into one of my piles of neutral colored stuffed animals along with Professor Layton, Foofy, Izaya and Marshmallow. "That should work… Now…" I'd have to put the rest in my oddly colored batch of stuffed animals (yes I tend to arrange them by color) so I sat the rest interspersed between some of my more brightly colored plushes (meaning Spirit, Fishy, Lila, Orangey, and Ghast). "Okay now freeze and act like you're fake!" And they did, well some were having a harder time than others *cough* Marshmallow and Ghast *cough*.

"Do you think it will work?" Rin asked as we walked out of the room. I nodded slowly, hoping to believe my own words.

"Yeah… they're smart after all. I hope they can do it." And then, there was a knock at the door. "Well, it's now or never. Rin, this will be your first task as my new second-in-command. The mission is: keep the kittens hidden, okay?" She nodded her head firmly and saluted. I saluted back. "Okay, let's do this."

**Kitty POV**

"_Exactly how long do we have to stay like this?" _Sasori mumbled under his breath, not liking the idea of waiting around for something to happen.

"_Until she says it's okay to come out. Otherwise, you heard what she said. We'll lose our home- I mean this place," _Kisame responded, his voice equally muffled by the stuffed dolphin on top of him.

"_We cannot leave this house until we have found if there is a portal or not. If there's any chance that there is, it's probably somewhere around here, where we were found," _stated Pein matter-of-factly. Tobi began to squirm a bit next to him.

"_Tobi doesn't want to leave, Tobi likes it here with the girlies. They feed and play with Tobi!" _

"_Shut up Tobi! You're going to give away our hiding spots!"_ Deidara hissed from across the room, earning him and Tobi a glare from Pein.

"_Both of you shut up. Someone's coming." _

**Vash's POV**

_Oh god, Jen's here early._ I looked up from where I was cleaning the counter to see Nicky and Rin standing near the open door, where Jen stood, clad in her usual summer attire of a tank top and shorts, her long blonde hair kept down.

"Hey! Who's this?" _Argh... her son is here too… _Usually I can handle kids pretty well, but this eleven year old boy could be difficult at times. I think he has ADD or something but, I'm not too sure. He was looking curiously at Rin who just blankly stared back at him. Nicky laughed nervously, she's never been very good at being under pressure. Hopefully no one realizes her nervousness.

"Oh, I'm babysitting her now. She's the next door neighbor's daughter. Her name is Rin. Rin this is Jen's son Evan. And Evan this is Rin," she introduced shakily.

"Nice to meet you," Rin answered politely. After cleaning up the supplies, I walked over to where they were standing and waved a bit at Jen. She smiled at me.

"How was your trip to Costa Rica?" I asked, somewhat interested. If I could distract her long enough, maybe Rin and Nicky could get the kittens out of there.

"Here, let's go check on your shower drain and I'll tell you about it." I nodded and followed her into the bathroom. _Come on Nicky. You can do it!_

**Nicky's POV**

"Well Rin, how about you and Evan play some of my Wii games while I continue to clean my room… Ehehehehe…" She nodded and motioned towards my bookcase filled with video games. I took the hint and tried to casually walk to my room, while passing Jen and Vash talking in the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I looked around the area, trying to figure out how to get the kitties out without anyone seeing them. "Hmm… uh… oh!" I picked up my backpack that was hanging on a wall hook. "We can use this!" Suddenly the door to the room opened and Vash walked in with Jen.

"Jen needs to see the piping in the storage room." Vash answered to my confused face. I nodded slowly and pretended like I was looking for something in my backpack. Jen looked over at me as she walked in.

"Getting ready for school already, Nicky?" I turned my head and smiled at her sheepishly.

"Uh yeah… I was just cleaning out my backpack. I am pretty excited though."_ It was my first semester at a large, well-known university after all, who wouldn't be stoked?_ She nodded and followed Vash into the door on the opposite side of the room. It led to the area for extra storage and the water heater. I looked around at the kittens to see them looking up at me. "Just a little longer guys, I'm gonna find a way to fix this, all right?" I whispered, and decided to count all the kittens, to double check they were all there. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 6, 7, 8, 9… wait, where's Izaya?" They looked around and shook their heads. _Urg! Dumb cat! I'll kill him if he doesn't get caught!_ "Don't move or I'll dye you all pink!" And with that I stalked out of the room, calling for Izaya under my breath.

"Psst Izaya…. Pssssssst! Where you be?" I called hastily while I looked in some of the bathroom cupboards and laundry hamper.

"Hahaha! This game is awesome! Here I'll show you how to play…" _That sounds like Evan…_ Trying to keep calm about the missing kitten, I anxiously skipped out of the room and came to a stop next to the couch to see Rin and Evan playing Super Smash Bros. Evan seemed pretty into it and was trying to show Rin what controls to use, but she seemed somewhat distracted by a black lump at her side. My face paled and my mouth dropped open, eye twitching in irritation. _Is that Izaya? That little midget took him out here! At least Evan hasn't noticed him._

"Rin…" I started but, didn't get to finish as Jen and Vash's voices floated through the bathroom door. Thinking fast, I grabbed the blob that was Izaya and chucked him into the pile of blankets that rested on top of the other side of the couch. _I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry! I'll make it up to you later!_

"Oh sure! Evan and I didn't have any dinner plans anyway," Jen's voice stated as they walked past me. _Wait… dinner? That's a terrible idea! Vashhhh… *insert mental fist shake* _Vash gave me an apologetic look while she offered Jen a seat on the couch next to Evan so she could start dinner. Jen thanked her and sat down, asking Evan about the game, which he happily (and loudly) went into detail about. While they were somewhat distracted, I slipped by them and grabbed the heap of blankets Izaya had sunk into, carrying them into my room, giving Rin a scolding glance as I went by.

"Just trying to get these out of the way…" I murmured to the group before reaching the safe haven. I slid the door shut again and looked around to see some of the kittens up and about, going through my things. Wait… they were messing up my room! I instantly dropped the blankets when I saw a few stuffed animals left astray on the floor. Picking one up, I noticed a bunch of claw marks that were deep enough to cause the fluff to peek out of the wounds.

"My… my babies," I sent the darkest glare I could muster at the surrounding kittens. Holding up the stuffed animal I growled, "Who did this…?" A few of them backed up, giving me room in case I needed to freak out, except for a certain arrogant cat that I had been growing an extreme dislike towards. His little white body was posed in a proud position.

"You smug little eskimo, Marshy! Look what you did!" I shook my now "dead" stuffed animal in his face until some of the fluff covered him. Unable to contain my frustration I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, carrying him over to my dresser and plopping him in the drawer dedicated to sweats. "At least you'll be comfortable while you stay out of trouble," I mumbled, closing him inside, but leaving it open a crack so he wouldn't suffocate. No matter how much I disliked him, I would never kill him… on purpose. I turned to the rest of the cats, my annoyance subsiding.

"Okay guys, I know your antsy, but just stay in this room. We're having dinner here so don't let her see you! I don't wanna lose you guys…" I frowned and picked up each kitten, kissing them on the head (except for Marshmallow of course). "I'll be back to check on you in a bit. Just be good okay? Oh and sorry Izaya for throwing you, I was out of options." He turned away from me, not seeming to accept my apology. _Jerk… _Hoping the kitties would heed my words, I stalked off towards the living room area, where the guests would be waiting.

**Kitty POV**

"_Now's our chance to start looking for the portal, so split up into your teams and __**don't**__ get caught. Understood?"_ Pein looked to the others for confirmation and they nodded. Kakuzu raised his paw a bit.

"_I don't have a partner, can I go alone?" _Pein looked towards the drawer Hidan was trapped in, hearing a slew of colorful curses.

"_It's probably best that he stays here." _Kakuzu nodded in understanding and almost had a happy look on his face at the thought of not being with Hidan (the only thing other than money that could cause this).

**With Lila and Orangey**

"_Should we check this door over here first?" _Konan asked, motioning to the storage room with a turn of the head. He nodded to her question and led the way through the slightly ajar door. When they entered they noticed the room was relatively bare, besides the water heater itself, a lone wardrobe and some cardboard boxes.

"_Let's split up and look around," _Pein suggested and moved towards the wall that was shared with the kitchen to start looking, only to notice a square hole that lead to said area of the home. The smell of spaghetti and meatballs that permeated through the space was enough to make his stomach growl quietly. Put off by the action, he went through the hole to demand for food. He couldn't be seen weak for having a hungry tummy after all. That was unacceptable.

He noticed Vash standing near the stove, stirring something in a pot, and meowed lightly. Vash stiffened and moved her eyes towards the hungry kitten that stood at the opening in the wall she never noticed before.

"Do you like to meow while you cook Vash? Hahaha," sounded a voice that resembled the young boy. Looking panicked, Vash looked over her shoulder.

"Sometimes I do hahaha…" And with that response she knelt down beside the refrigerator (so the group couldn't see her) and in front of Pein. "What are you doing? Get back in there!" Without warning, she shoved the little guy back through the hole, covering it up with heavy box of paper towels.

"_How dare that child deny me food?" _Pein muttered irritably while he wandered back to where he last left Konan. She tilted her head to the side in question, but didn't push it. _"Did you find anything?"_

"_No, nothing suspicious except for that wardrobe, but we're not tall enough to reach the handles. Perhaps we can get one of the girls to do it for us,"_ she reasoned to herself as they walked out of the room, closing the door as much as they could behind them.

"_Let's see if anyone else has found clues."_

**With Izaya and Fishy**

"_Hahaha I can't believe she threw you!" _A small glare from Itachi was enough to shut up Kisame's laughter. They had decided to look through Nicky's closet but, were coming up with nothing of interest. Suddenly, another stuffed manatee fell from somewhere and onto Kisame's head, making Itachi smirk, well barely. He doesn't do much of anything really. Kisame looked angrily at the manatee plush and was about to attack it when he remembered what happened to Hidan and stopped. _"This girl is too old to have this many stuffed toys. I think she has more of these than clothes." _Itachi looked from the few clothes hanging above them, to the abundance of animals around her room.

"_She does…" _Kisame sighed and stepped out of the closet, with Itachi following. Pein stood in front of them.

"_Nothing in there but more stuffed toys and clothes," _Kisame commented dully.

"_Hn…"_

Pein looked to the closet noticing that the two were indeed correct.

"_We'll remain here until the others report in and continue our hiding. The portal might not be inside the home like we previously thought."_

**With Spirit and Foofy**

Sneaking around the bathroom the duo checked the shower, lower bathroom drawers and cupboards, and the laundry hamper after successfully knocking it over.

"_Look at this mess you've made, brat. Pick up after yourself or the girls will get suspicious and maybe even lock you up with Hidan,"_ Sasori grumbled to himself, while licking one of his paws. Deidara frowned at him and muttered some profanities before attempting to get the spilled clothes back into the basket.

"_How are supposed to know what this portal looks like anyways, un?" _Sasori gave him a deadpan expression.

"_I'm sure we'll know a large swirling hole when we see it."_

"OH! This toy! Yes! Ahahahaha! It's a remote control cat! Pretty cool, huh? Ehehehe…" Curious, the two kittens peeked around the bathroom door to see Nicky holding one of her gaming controllers and aiming it at a very confused Tobi.

"_Damn, un. Tobi's gonna get us caught, yeah."_

**With Professor Layton and Calcifer**

"_How could you let him just walk out there like that? That idiot is going to ruin everything!"_ Kakuzu said harshly to Zetsu while they peered around the couch, watching the awkward scene unfold before them. Zetsu just moved his shoulders up slightly in a shrug.

"_It would've happened sometime. __**It's hard to sneak around as damn cats when we're used to being human.**__ One of them would have heard us eventually."_

**Nicky's POV**

_Ghast you little poophead! Argh… it just had to be a sliding door for my room didn't it?_ I pointed my PS3 controller at Ghast, hoping he would move a bit, when I had an idea.

"You see, he will move and do things when I tell him to. The controller is just used for a different function. Ghast, walk straight." It took a few moments, but he finally seemed to grasp the situation at hand and walked forward a bit. _Thank-you magical box for giving me smart kitties!_

"Wow! That's awesome! Can I try?" Evan asked, bouncing up and down in his seat. _*mental facepalm* Should have seen that coming._

"Sure, just say his name and tell him what to do. He can only do simple stuff though." Jen watched the kitty carefully as Evan told it to sit and chase its tail.

"Wow that's really cool. It looks so real too. Maybe it's something I have to look into since I don't like real cats, haha."

"Ahahaha… yes. I found it on… the…. Oh! The Sharper Image website." She nodded her head, accepting my explanation.

"Dinner is ready!" Vash called from the kitchen and I had to hold back my sigh of relief. Evan picked up Ghast and handed him to me.

"Cool cat toy. I wish I had one!" And then he went off on one of his rants while Jen and him went to sit at the table.

"I'm gonna put this away real fast," I called to them and walked to the bathroom, picking up a bewildered Cal and Professor Layton on the way. I opened the door to see my hamper tipped over with some of the clothes sloppily put back in. Not even caring at the moment, I walked past the mess and into my room where the remaining kittens were sitting in a circle, looking innocent. I pointed a finger at them.

"You guys are soooo lucky I like cats. Soooo lucky but, because I can't trust you to actually stay in this room, I'm going to do this." I set the three kitties I was carrying on the floor and walked back to the bathroom, dumping all my clothes out of the hamper and bringing it with me. "Okay kiddies, gather 'round in a tight-knit circle." They did as I said, without knowing what would happen until I carefully placed the hamper over them in a cage like structure. I grabbed three of my old college text books (and they're heavy) and laid them on top of the cage so they couldn't get out or push it over. "Now, you're all staying there 'til we're done. Got it? Good." Feeling satisfied, I double-checked on Marshmallow, grabbing him and putting him with the others to avoid another incident. Can't be too careful with smart, mischievous kitties.

**Vash's POV**

"So Jen, how come you don't like cats?" Jen finished the bite of spaghetti she was chewing on before she spoke.

"Well, I'm allergic to them, like most people are in my family and I just like dogs better. They're fun and loyal and cats… are just cats, you know? Independent and such." Vash nodded at her reasoning.

"That's understandable." From the corner of my eye I could see Nicky pull up a seat next to me, looking tired, and serving herself some spaghetti and garlic bread.

"So how's your pharmacy program going, Vash? How much longer do you have on your internship?"

"Ah, I have about two weeks left I think. Just have to put in enough time and I'll be done before school starts." Jen shook her head in understanding and helped Evan fix his napkin on his shirt so he wouldn't spill any more than he already had. I looked to Rin to see if she needed any help but, she was already done eating. "Wow you ate that fast." She looked over to me.

"It was good, thanks. You have spaghetti sauce on your face." I blinked and fumbled for my napkin before wiping it over my mouth. Nicky was chuckling next to me.

"She's like a mini-you, Vash. Both blunt and yet awesome." I nodded in agreement. _Yeah, it is kinda scary how alike we are with our thinking sometimes. _And as if to prove that further, Rin turned to Jen with a look of question.

"I have a kitten, is it okay if I bring it over sometimes or do you not allow them?" Jen laughed lightly.

"Well, you sure sound adult. I've had a few tenants who've had cats live down here, but every time something has gone wrong. One didn't even tell me they had a cat so I had to kick them out after they left it crying in the basement while they went out of town for a few days. But, I did have one tenant who had a cat that was more like a dog and that one was okay. I guess the thing is, I don't really like cats at all so, it's probably a better idea to leave it at home. Besides, it's a cat and they're fine alone." Nicky gulped from beside me, trying to cover it up by shoving a piece of bread in her mouth and chewing obnoxiously.

The rest of the dinner consisted of small talk about school and Jen's vacation. Evan liked to interrupt occasionally, (getting increasingly louder each time he did so) and ask questions about what games we had and how the cat toy worked. Rin and Nicky stayed quiet for the most part until the two left, offering to drop Rin off at home since her mother had returned. Rin accepted and waved goodbye as Nicky shut the door behind them, allowing herself to slide down the door until her butt hit the carpet. She put her face in her hands.

"Now what do we do…?" She asked, looking up to me from behind her hands but, I honestly had no answer for her.

"I don't know."

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Attention reviewer persons and non-reviewer persons: I'm trying to figure out who the pairings should be before I actually start writing them as humans, so if you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! It's not gonna be like a full-on focused romance thing, but I think it's always fun to spice up the story a little with a bit of side romance in there. :P

**Nicky: **Wait… what?

**Vash: **Are you really that determined to set us up with someone? =_=

**Foosha: **Yes. Yes I am. Live with it you turkeys. Also,am I the only one who thought of Scooby Doo when Pein said to "split up and look around"? I almost typed "split up and look for clues" Bahaha xD Also, notice how they remembered Nicky's name? Perhaps they have grown a tad attached! And polls are now up on my profile so please vote for who should be with who, thanks!


	7. Surprise Surprise

**Foosha: **Guys! I had the weirdest dream last night!

**Nicky: **What happened?

**Foosha: **A lot of random stuff that included being on some sort of a bus that rolled over once after getting hit by something and a party at my house… but that's not the part of the dream that was weird! For some reason I was in my old house (with a bunch of real and not real people) leaning over the stair railing and I fell off, but caught myself on the blanket hanging over the railing. Knowing I wouldn't be able to get up, I thought I'd die but Tobi came out of nowhere and pulled me up! So strange. I rarely have dreams with anime characters in them. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, alerts and faves! I love you all and you make me so happy that I decided to write this story :'D

**Vash: **So who won the poll for Nicky?

**Foosha: **Ah, it's gonna be a surprise (aka there was a four-way tie so we'll see what happens). So if any of you didn't vote for whatever reason, please message me and tell me who you vote for! It'd be very helpful if you did so, otherwise I'm just gonna write and see who she ends up with. Bahaha.

**Nicky: ***pouts* Fine. Foosha doesn't own Naruto, Nintendo, lolcats or any food or TV references.

**Vash: ** *adjusts glasses* Also, my poll will be up this week. Do me proud and choose someone I'll like, please.

* * *

><p><strong>Nicky's POV<strong>

After our little semi-confrontational dinner last night, Vash and I had yet to say much. Today she had a day off so we planned to use it to talk about kitten matters. I sat at my usual space on the couch with Ghast lying atop my lap purring, while I stroked his back occasionally (when I wasn't battling Pokémon on my 3DS that is). Vash sat silently next to me in deep thought, absent-mindedly petting a resting Professor Layton by her left side and a Lila on her right. The other kitties were spread around the couch or randomly wandering about the room, in Marshmallow's case. _I swear he has problems with sitting still. What's that called again? Uh… I'll call it antsy-feet syndrome until I can figure out the real name._

"Ya know… we should just keep them as long as we can down here. If Jen finds out, then we'll find a place for them. Until then though, we should enjoy our time with our furry friends," I spoke quietly and after setting down my game, I picked up Ghast and snuggled him to my face. I didn't want to lose them, but it seemed like we were limited with our choices and this would be the only way to have them, at least for a while. Jen wouldn't kick out her step-sister for disobeying the rules. _…would she? Nah…_ Vash looked at me from the corner of her eye and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you're right there," she mumbled and popped her earphones on, cranking up her iPod really loud, something she usually did when we were home. "What should we do today?" I pulled at my nonexistent goatee, trying to keep our moods up with silliness. After having such a serious conversation, I felt a bit awkward. And that's when I got a wonderful idea. _I'm gonna make this day awesome. For everyone._

"Hrrmmm… oh! How about we celebrate today? Celebrate… having found the kitties! With… a cake! I have to babysit Rin anyway so it'll be like our own mini party! And Jen left already to the waterpark with Evan so it's perfect!" Vash looked up at me surprised by my random outburst, but smiled and nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts but… we're gonna need some cake mix." I nodded, already getting excited.

"Okay! I'll take some kitties with me to get some and other party stuff. I just got paid from working last week, so awesome!" Yeah, I work, but only like twice every other week or something. At least it's enough to get by, though with the extra stuff for the party, it might be a bit harder. _No worries though, it's totally worth it. And besides, I get babysitting money now too! _ "Now… who shall I take…" The kittens sat huddled around our feet, looking up at us expectantly. "I pick… Foofy, Fishy, Lila, annnnd Calcifer. Now come on guys, let's get some cakey!" Vash removed herself from the couch and headed to the kitchen, the remaining kittens following her curiously.

"What to wear, what to wear…" I mumbled to myself, sifting through the t-shirts in my closet. Finally, I decided on a simple teal v-neck, black shorts that went to my mid-thigh, and a large gray hoodie. For some reason I really enjoy oversized jackets._ They're the comfiest, just like sweats. And really really warm. I'm so glad it's raining today. I missed wearing these as much as I missed the rain. It's a win-win!_ It seemed counterproductive to wear shorts and a sweater, but my legs never really got cold and it wasn't too bad outside, besides it being wet.

A loud meow startled me out of my thoughts and I looked down, to see Spirit looking irked. I furrowed my brows. "What's your problem? You're not even coming with me." He continued to look up at me with that strange expression, so I chose to ignore him and finish putting on my hoodie. "Okay weirdo. I'm goin', I'm goin'. Is that what you wanted?" His eyes narrowed at me and he stalked off. _Stupid attitude. I hope he doesn't turn into another Marshmallow. Ugh that would suck… _Once I was satisfied, I returned to the living room to see Vash getting started on some pudding and brownies. My eyes glazed over and drool started to form in my mouth. "Vash, you're really going all out, aren't ya? I love you." With a final glomp, and Vash detaching me from her in a rough manner, I walked to the door to leave, when I noticed Izaya and Marshmallow sitting near each other by the television. And that's when it hit me. "Holy cow! It's Basement Cat and Ceiling Cat! Why didn't I think of these names sooner! Argh…" I fell to the ground dramatically, unbelievingly disappointed that I just recognized the resemblance now. Vash sighed loudly from the kitchen.

"Get going so we can start the cake. Maybe I'll save some of the mix for you, if you're good." I perked up and nodded, grabbing my "accompany kitties" and rushing out the door. _Curse my cookie dough/cake and brownie mix weakness!_ Opening the backdoor and seeing the downpour, I realized it'd be a good idea to keep the kitties dry.

"Here guys, hang on." I flipped my hood up over my head and set Lila on one of my shoulders and Foofy on the other (since he seemed rather fond of his long fur). "Okay… what to do with you two…" I muttered looking at Cal and Fishy. Apparently I didn't have to do much though, for they had jumped out of my arms and willingly embraced the rain coming down, almost eagerly. I grinned at them and picked them up in my arms. "Aww… after my own heart. How precious. C'mon guys. Let's get some cake mix!"

**Vash's POV**

Ever since I walked in the kitchen, the cats wouldn't leave me alone. It's like they knew exactly what I was making. _Creepy…_ And to top it off they wouldn't stop staring at me! Just looking up at me with those big pleading eyes. At one point I snapped, my eye twitching in irritation.

"Just leave okay? It's hard to maneuver around with you guys practically sitting on my feet. I'll let you know when I finish. It might take a while since I'm making so much stuff and you won't be able to eat until they get back anyway." Finally, Nonny walked away, seemingly interested in "World's Dumbest Criminals" on TV. And eventually Spirit, Professor Layton, and Izaya left after him, leaving Helghast and Marshmallow who seemed adamant in staying near the food source. I frowned at them.

"If you're just going to stand around waiting at least make yourselves useful. You can understand most of what I say right? You know what different foods are, don't you?" Marshmallow scowled at me and let out a hiss, flicking his tail in an irritated fashion. Helghast on the other hand just nodded his head and continued to watch me, eyes wide. Ignoring the grumpy one, I turned to Ghast. "Okay, can you grab me the half-empty package of sugar? It's on that lower shelf. I think you can reach it."

He responded by walking over to the shelf and looking at the ingredients, before correctly grabbing the sugar bag in his mouth and bringing it over to me. _Thank goodness for smart cats I guess. _I smiled and patted his head, taking the sugar from his mouth and adding the correct amount to the brownie mix. He gave a short purr in return and jumped up to the sink and sat, watching eagerly as if waiting for more instructions. From the corner of my eye I could see Marshmallow pacing around the kitchen, still looking agitated. _I wonder how Nicky is doing…_

**Nicky's POV**

Though it seems odd, the only time I really enjoyed walking was during the fall, winter or when it was raining. _I just enjoy wet seasons I guess._ And wet it was. The rain was pouring down nonstop and it was fantastic! Foofy and Lila seemed thankful that I put them in the cover of my hood. And Cal and Fishy also seemed to be enjoying their position, catching raindrops with their tongues and looking, overall, livelier than usual. _I love these guys. I'm not sure what I'd do if I hadn't found them. _I grinned to myself as the cool air from Smith's hit my wet face. _I feel safer going here than Harmon's. Who knows if those dudes are still hangin' around. _

"Though I probably shouldn't be regularly bringing kittens to the store… oh well. They're more like mini-friends than pet's anehways… So it's a-okay!" The greeter guy looked at me oddly while I continued to converse with myself, holding Cal and Fishy close to me so no one would notice them. It's kinda hard though when you have cats that look like them. Understandable.

I wandered around for a bit, trying to remember what I came there for. _Oh yeah! Cake mix! _Occasionally one of the kittens would mew and try to point out something they wanted while I looked for the cake aisle. So, I had to explain to them quietly why I couldn't buy a random origami kit, a live lobster, a bucket of clay and a shank of cow meat. _Weirdoes. Either watching too much Food Channel, Animal Planet or Vash doing her art stuff. _

After successfully locating Rainbow Chip cake mix and frosting (my favorite!), and a few random streamers and balloons, I took my findings to the open cashier, ungracefully plopping them down on the belt and walking up to the dude, wallet in hand.

"Did you find everything all right?" I nodded my head slightly and let out a small "yup". He scanned the items slowly and I could feel his eyes on me, so I put my head down, pretending to be interested in playing with Cal's ear. _Stop staring, stop staring!_ And inevitably, I felt my face flush a bit. I hated being the center of attention. _I guess that's what I get for bringing cool kitties into a super market._ Suddenly, he decided to speak again.

"Wow, those are some cool looking cats ya got there," he said in a chipper voice. I looked up from my hood for a second to see him gazing questionably at the kittens. "I've never seen them in such cool colors." Feeling proud that I found such awesome kittens, I lifted my head up and grinned.

"Yeah, they are pretty neat, aren't they? I found them one day and knew I had to keep them." He nodded approvingly after tallying up the last bit of the total and telling me what I owed. I paid quietly and grabbed my double bagged groceries, about to make my way out when he stopped me.

"Hey, is it okay if I pet one?" I turned around and blinked, just now noticing what he looked like. He was about my age, probably a little older, with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes._ Nooo! He's cute! And he likes animals! Don't think about it Nicky, don't do it!_ But I did anyway, shaking my head yes, I shuffled back over to him, holding out Lila, since she seemed to be the calmest of the cats. Cautiously, the young man reached out and gently massaged Lila's head. Once satisfied he removed his hand and smiled at me. "They're pretty cool. If you come in again and I'm here, bring them by my station and I'll have a special treat for them. I have a few cats myself." He offered his hand to me and I shook it. "I'm Damon."

"Uh… I'm Nicky. Nice to meet you but… I better go… Bye." Abruptly, I turned tail and ran, completely embarrassed by… well I'm not sure what actually. I just had to get out of there. _What is wrong with me? He was just interested in the cats, no need to spaz out, Nicky! You crazy person, you._

**Vash's POV**

_Okay, brownies are in the oven, pudding is finished in the refrigerator… so now all that's left is to wait. _Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Wonder who that could be…" I opened it to reveal Rin, with her signature backpack and a different colorful unicorn shirt on. She looked up at me, her damp pigtails waving slightly and her face with the same neutral expression. Come to think of it, the only time I've seen her smile or show other emotion is when she's played with the kittens.

"Hello. I'm here to be babysat. Momma is at a fashion show downtown." And without even letting me reply, she walked under my arm that held the door open and took a seat on the couch, flipping the TV channel to My Little Pony. She called Izaya over to her with a click of her tongue, and after some hesitation he jumped up on the couch and lay next to her. _Like she owns the place and it's only the second day. I'm not sure how fond of this relationship I'll be._

"Rin, we're celebrating finding the kittens today, do you want to help decorate? I've made some origami kittens and decorated them to resemble our cats, so if you could just carefully place them around the room, that'd be great." She nodded her head once and stood up, collecting the paper creatures from the kitchen table and began setting them in random spots all over the room.

"These are really cute. I want the Izaya one," she said in an almost demanding voice. _Bossy bratty child…_

"Well… you can have it when I'm done. I don't care what happens to them, but I know Nicky would like to keep as many as she can. I might even have to make another Izaya one." And as if on cue, Nicky walked through the door looking tired… and wet. She took her shoes off and left them outside before closing the door behind her. Immediately she handed off the groceries to me and I took them to the kitchen after a bit of teasing. "You look like a drowned rat with that oversized coat on you."

"You look like a drowned neh! I don't even care. I'm taking a hot shower, so start that cake, lady!"

"Say "please" first. Oh and by the way, Rin is here." She pulled down her hood, setting the kittens she had on the floor and looked at Rin who was busy watching her show.

"Oh, hi Rin, and PLEASE make cake, thank-you! I can help frost it if you want when I'm done!"

My face faltered slightly, remembering the last time she tried to ice a cake. "That won't be necessary… I don't mind doing it if you want the cake to be in one whole piece." She laughed nervously.

"Oh… right. Well then… I'll be back!" Mind you, she said this in a deep manly voice without an accent, since she hasn't actually seen "The Terminator". She likes to pretend she knows the voices. _Whatever floats her boat._ I chuckled a bit and waved her off to do her showering.

**Nicky's POV**

"Oh Rin, here I have something for you to do." She looked up at me just as I tossed her a bag of balloons and streamers. "Blow these up and hang up the streamers! It'll be fun! We can play "Hot Lava" with the balloon!"

"That game's for babies…" I frowned. _What does she know? I like it… it's fun! _I "hmphed" and looked down at the wet Fishy and Cal at my feet. They appeared to be shivering slightly.

"You guys are cold aren't you? Well do you want a towel or a shower? Though… I didn't think cats liked showers… Actually we probably have to wash you guys at some point. So if any of you other kitties want a shower, come get it! You're all probably a little stinky anyways from being in a box or shelter…" _Come to think of it, I've let these cats in my bed and have been hugging them! I have no idea where they've been! _I could feel the color being sucked from my face as I had my inner panic attack. The remaining kittens walked passed me, giving me a quick glance, to get into the bathroom and wait for their cleaning. I snapped out of my trance and skipped in after them, closing the door in case one of them went crazy over getting wet. They looked up at me as I pulled my hair back.

"Well… which one of you wants to go first? I'm not getting in there with you. It'd be too weird since you guys are like… aware and stuff." Some of them nodded and eventually Fishy stepped forward. "Figures since you like water, c'mon big guy." I hefted him up and sat him on the shower floor, turning on some warm water.

After about forty-five minutes of washing and blow-drying all of the kitties, they looked like brand new! Well… you know what I mean. Their fur colors were even more noticeable and vibrant and they looked very… well pretty! Feeling happy with my accomplishment, I kissed each of their heads and sent them out the door, locking it after they left.

"Now for my own shower."

**Foofy's POV**

"_Ugh, un! I can't get it right!" _The past ten minutes, I'd been spending my time in Nicky's room looking in her floor-length mirror, trying to fix the small tuft on my forehead so it would stop sticking straight up. It wasn't working though, no matter what I did. I swatted at the mirror in anger, though that didn't help much. Suddenly I realized I was the only one in that room. _"Where'd everyone go, yeah?"_ I walked over to the door that led to the bathroom to see Nicky wrapped in a robe with a towel on her head. She noticed me immediately, and looked at me with a confused expression.

"Oh. Sorry dude, I guess I forgot about you." I gave her a flat expression but, she just smiled and picked me up placing me on the bathroom counter. "Looks like you got a cowlick goin' on here, eh?" She placed two of her fingers under the faucet to get them wet, and used them to smooth down the unruly hair, brushing it with a mini-comb afterwards. "There ya go. Hopefully that works. If not I think Vash has some random gel around her somewhere… but you probably wouldn't like that." I looked up at her, my head slightly tilted to the side.

It's strange. The relationship that us Akatsuki have built up with these normal girls. They're both so… abnormally kind and are willing to do anything for us. Even something they wouldn't normally do. So what would happen if they ever found out who we actually were? Would they still be like this? Or is this the only time that we'll ever have this kind treatment? We are criminals after all. There was a sudden warmness on my forehead, and I looked up, somewhat cross-eyed, to see Nicky kissing my forehead, like she usually did. She smiled at me and scratched behind my ear.

"Now get outta here, cutie. I gotta get ready for cake!" And with that, she gently placed me outside the door, closing it securely. _I guess… when it's time, I might miss being treated like a regular human... well cat. But _only_ a little._

**Nicky's POV**

"Vash it smells amazing in here! Is everything ready?" I practically screamed, running out of the bathroom to the kitchen, hopping over kittens in the process.

"Yeah I'm just about done. You can have a brownie though, if you'd like. I cleaned out the mixing bowls already so you'll just have to enjoy the results." Only somewhat disappointed, I snatched a brownie from a plate on the table and stuffed it in my mouth. Looking around the room, I noticed the kittens had congregated in the kitchen, along with Rin who sat at the table, feeding Izaya smalls bites of her vanilla pudding. I felt a small pressure on my shins and looked down to see Ghast, Cal and Marshmallow looking up expectantly, so I grabbed another brownie and broke it up into small pieces, popping one into each of the kittens open mouths. They seemed to enjoy it, well… except for Cal. I think he was just hungry overall, but he was definitely more of a fan of meat than anything else we've fed him.

"Hey, I'm gonna turn on some party music!" I shouted, scrambling out of my seat and to the living room, but not before tripping over the mini-medium separating the kitchen tile from the carpet. Landing over-exaggeratedly on the more comfortable side of the floor, I grabbed the big toe that I had stubbed, rolling back and forth. "Owowowowowowow! Vash help me!" I didn't look to where she was standing, but I could hear her laughing loudly. Even Rin giggled a bit. Trying to drag the act out a bit more I added, "You jerk! I'm in pain, can't you seeeee?" And suddenly there was a flash of smoke where Orangey was sitting on the tile. I sat up immediately to see what happened, and when the smoke cleared… it revealed a man in a dark black cloak, with red clouds and orange hair. "…what…?"

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><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Okay everyone, Vash's poll is up! I expect more votes for this one since she's awesome! And also, the real Vash is amazing at origami! She just isn't that fond of it.

**Nicky: **Am I not awesome? T_T

**Foosha: **When you aren't being neurotic, you're pretty awesome.

**Nicky: **Well… thanks I guess.

**Vash: **Vote please and don't give me a four-way tie like someone…

**Nicky: **You don't have to rub it in. :T

**Foosha: **And enjoy the cliff hanger! Mwahahaha.


	8. And Then There Were Ninjas

**Foosha: **Aww look how nice I am. :D I went and wrote this whole chapter yesterday and today. xD Now the other chapter isn't as bad of a cliff-hanger!

**Nicky: **Kitties? ;_;

**Vash: ***shakes head*

**Nicky: **TT_TT I want kitties!

**Foosha: **Thanks for the reviews, alerts and faves even though it's only been a day! You guys are so responsive! ):D Anehways… enjoy this chapter! Should be entertaining.

**Nicky: **Foosha doesn't own Naruto, Mario, Soul Eater, Sims, or any television or random references in this story! And there are quite a few in this chapter!

**Foosha: **Also, if you see any repeated sentences, please let me know. My Microsoft word is all wonky. Oh! And a lot of Vash's dialogue in this chapter was revised and rewritten by the actual Vash! So it's a special treat! 8D Enjoy~!

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><p>The man turned around to reveal a terrifying face, filled with piercings of all kinds and strange looking eyes. I froze in my spot. <em>But wait… <em>

"Hang on. Vash, did you set us up for one of those prank shows or something? Hehehe… Are you a magician, sir? Because if so, you are wonderful!" He looked at me with a level expression as I stood up and flitted around the room, searching for hidden cameras. "Where are they? How long were you keeping this from me, eh?"

"Nicky… I didn't…" And by the seriousness in Vash's voice, I knew this wasn't her plan. Slowly, I inched around in a circle until I was again looking at the strange man. He looked back and forth between Vash and I, and Rin was now hiding behind Vash's back, looking terrified. _Stupid me! I should have known he was trouble when my rambling started. I always talk a lot when I'm nervous._

"Well," he spoke in an even voice, "I didn't expect to be changed back in this manner." Now that I knew it wasn't Vash's doing, I was stuck in my spot, eyes slightly widened. _Where did he come from…? People don't just appear! _Suddenly, Vash grabbed a random fire extinguisher, that I didn't even know we owned, and sprayed it at the man. Not expecting it, he shielded his face with his arms and in that moment, unable to faint to get away from the situation, I sprinted to my room to hide.

**Vash's POV**

I saw Nicky make a run for it from the corner of my eye. _Curse you Nicky! _

"RIN, GET AWAY FROM THE CREEPY DUDE!" Without hesitation, I felt her body heat disappear, though I'm not sure where to. When the extinguisher became lighter, I threw it at him with all my strength and rushed to the living room, taking my phone from my pocket and dialing 911.

"**Hello 911 what is your emergency?"**

"I-" but before I could even get a word out, the man ripped it from my grip and held it to his ear.

"I'm sorry, wrong number. I must have sat on my phone."

There was a pause where he listened to the woman on the other line, placing a firm grip on my right shoulder as he did so.

"I assure you all is well, the call was accidental," he replied to the woman and flipped my phone shut, pocketing it into his cloak thing. My eyes followed him wearily while he inspected the room, probably looking for Rin and Nicky.

"Now, get your friends, or something bad will happen." I glared at him.

"You really think I'll just go gather my friends for you so you could…do bad things to them?" I hissed. "Like hell!" _A swift knee to the groin and I'll be free to run! _I gathered what little strength I hadbefore swinging my knee up hard…into nothing. The tight grip that had turned my shoulder numb quickly slid down to my wrist and twisted my arm up behind my back before I could so much as gasp. My breath stopped from both fear and pain. _The damn bastard's going to rip my arm off!_

"I told you something bad would happen." He breathed into my ear, annoyed…but surprisingly calm considering the situation. I stayed silent. I didn't want to piss him off and have him break my arm or dislocate my shoulder. _Shit! What the hell am I supposed to do in a situation like this? If I could just—_

"Wait! Wait! Don't hurt her!" Nicky practically screamed from the doorway that led into the bedroom. I managed to turn my head a few inches to see her standing there in a serious manner, Rin cowering behind her back. _Damn_

"Come here." The man's voice was stern and expectant. He was obviously used to being obeyed. _No! You idiots! Run and call the police!_ I begged silently. I was still too afraid of getting hurt to actually say anything. Nicky took a few steps into the living room, Rin following close behind. I drew in a breath to finally yell at them, only to stumble forward a few steps when the man suddenly released my arm and pushed me over in their direction. "At least some of you can listen." He leveled a disapproving stare my way. I glared back at him and flipped him the bird. He ignored me.

**Nicky's POV: Living Room Interrogation! **

Once we were all standing in the room, the man called our attention, though Vash was the first to speak.

"Who are you? Why the hell are you here? What are you planning to do with us? Where's Nonny?" Vash asked bravely with only a slightly hysterical edge to her voice. I noticed too, that and the remaining kittens were watching the man with interest. The corner of the man's mouth twitched very slightly.

"I am "Nonny". My real name is Pein, but you will refer to me as Leader. Now, we're going to find out how you changed me back. All of you sit over there." He ignored the other questions and pointed to the couch. We quickly obliged, setting Rin between Vash and myself. _Curse motherly instincts! I should be getting the hell outta here! Though, he looks like he could kill me with just a look if I tried to run. Who knows? He could be like Free from Soul Eater and have killed the Head Witch, stealing her eyes and her magic or something! We'd be doomed! Unless he was dumb like Free… then we'd be okay. Stop rambling stupid! Pay attention to the situation!_ My insides calmed down a bit while I tried to regulate my breathing. I could feel Rin shiver beside me when he spoke again.

"So… what exactly did you do that deactivated the jutsu?" We just sat there and looked at him blankly.

"What's that?" Vash questioned bluntly. It sounded familiar to me, but I was far too scatter-brained at the moment to put the pieces together. The man frowned a bit, bringing his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose and pinching it.

"Well… the last thing that happened was when I tripped… right? So… -Hey wait a second, you're a cat? A cat… you were a cat. You were a cat that's been living at our house for almost three weeks. Does that mean these cats are also people? You're all real people who were disguised as cats living in our house for three weeks?" Things started connecting randomly in my head and I just kept talking, trying to sort out the logic in what was happening, but there was none. Pein… I mean Leader glared at me, looking somewhat irked.

"Just shut up. We are the Akatsuki, a criminal organization from another dimension. For some reason we ended up here and now you're going to turn the rest of us back to normal. Understood? I didn't eat any of the confectionaries you made, small girl, so it couldn't have been that. Now you…" he looked back into my eyes and now realizing how swirly and cool-looking they were I didn't answer at first, until he narrowed them dangerously. I gulped and sat up straight.

"Y-yes Leader guy?"

"You said the word "pain". My name is Pein. Perhaps the jutsu only required someone's name to be undone…" Again he pinched the bridge of his nose, "No wonder. No one else would know our names outside the organization so it's perfect. And such a simple solution too. Oh well. Itachi, Konan return to your human forms." He looked to Izaya and Lila but… nothing happened. "Itachi, Konan, now." Still nothing. I almost giggled until he looked back at us. "One of you, try saying their names."

"Uh… Konan?" I asked quietly, and watched in amazement as Lila was replaced by a cloud of smoke and a girl wearing a similar cloak, with sky blue hair held up by a paper flower. "Wow…" _Now that I look at them… our kittens were beautiful people and kitties! At least so far. _Pein nodded his head in acceptance.

"Now try Itachi." I glanced at Vash, signaling her that we'd take turns.

"Itachi." Again, more smoke and a man with long hair and red eyes appeared. _Wait red eyes? These people must be possessed! Oh my god, if this turns into something like the Grudge I'll kill myself._ The two newly transformed members moved to the opposite side of Leader, leaving the remaining kitten/people in their group.

"Next do Kisame and Tobi." Before Vash could say one I picked Tobi. I didn't want to mess up pronouncing the other one.

"Tobi."

"Kisame."

Two poofs revealed two men. One was extremely tall and actually had his head hitting the ceiling. Honestly, he looked like a strange version of a human shark creature. Terrifying. His skin was even blue! _He must have had too much fish in his childhood… heheheh… ugh, that didn't even make sense! It wasn't even somewhat funny! Terrible terrible attempt at a joke, Nicky. No wait! I can save it. It's called Fishy! Ya know, 'cause that was his cat name, and because he ate too much fish, and it's like Scurvy except Fishy! Yeah? Yeah? …Sigh. I know._

"Next, Zetsu, Sasori, Kakuzu, Hidan and Deidara."

"Okay I'll do... Zetsu, Hidan and Sasori."

"Kakuzu and Deidara."

More poofs and the rest of the kittens were now men. Each of them took time to move their joints, testing to see if their forms would stay. _Some of these guys look crazy! How are they living? _Once satisfied, they returned their attention to us. I swallowed and tried to shrink myself away from their gaze. _It's scary now that their people, even though they've probably seen me do more embarrassing things than any other boy… oh my god. _Suddenly my whole body warmed up, and I assumed, turned deep red. _How embarrassing! I was talking to them and everything! I even danced and sung terribly to them! This is awful! And even though their criminals, for some reason all I can think of is how they were kitties! But wait..._

"So what do you want from us now? If you're from a different universe have you found a way back? Are you just going to kill us off?" Vash questioned from her spot on the couch. _Don't put ideas in their brains, you twit! _Inside of my head I was having a mental breakdown, but I'm pretty sure on the outside, it looked like I was just staring off into space, making weird facial expressions.

"Hm. On one hand, we could just kill you and stay here but… I suppose we owe you in a way for keeping us safe when we were… indisposed. You have not wronged us in any way, so it's only fair. So then, you will help us try to find a portal that may have transported us here. If we are unable to find such a thing, we'll have to research a new jutsu… or if worse-case scenario, you'll have to teach us more of your world and we'll have to find a more… permanent arrangement. If you don't cooperate with our plans though, we will kill you," He held a hand out to Vash. "Do we agree on these terms? We cannot touch you, unless you are interfering with our plans."

Vash looked at me and Rin before turning her head towards Pein. "Fine, we accept. It's not like we have much of a choice anyway." They shook hands before he backed away, his arms crossed in front of him.

"We have learned some things about your world from watching the television shows and going out occasionally. In the mean-time when we aren't searching for portals, I want you to teach us more of this world, incase worse comes to worse." I nodded my head, thinking it sounded reasonable enough but, my mind could only come back to one thing.

"What about food?"

"Hm… we don't have money that will work here. And apparently there are no longer ninjas in this world so there is no where we could make money. I will send a few people to steal food from those market places you've shown us." I nearly had a heart attack when I heard that. Stealing? I'd feel terrible, but what else could we do? _Mista' tummy's gotta eat! Nomnom!_

"Wait, did you say ninjas? Like Ninja Warrior ninjas?" Some of the men facepalmed at my question. Probably something they learned from me or Vash. Pein sighed.

"We are real ninjas, not people who call themselves such and participate in childlike obstacle courses. Our organization stands for-" but before he could finish, something clicked in my mind, so of course I had to say it out loud.

"Oh! I know why you sound so familiar! Here look!" I walked over to my desktop and woke it up, hyper aware of the group gathering behind me. Letting out a shaky breath, I continued my objective and pulled up Google, typing "Naruto" in the image search bar to see what would come up. And of course, in a matter of seconds the page was filled with images from the anime Naruto. I heard some gasps from behind me so I turned around to see a few of them looking wide-eyed.

"That's the Kyuubi. Where did you find this, girl?" I frowned at that.

"It's on the internet. Naruto, or Kyuubi whatever, is a television show like the ones you've watched and… I think you guys are the lead antagonists. I've only ever watched the first few episodes so… I don't know much about it. Here let me try something else." I typed "Akatsuki" in the search bar and this time, images of them came up. _Thank god I have the blocker on. Otherwise we might see something nasty. _By this point, we were all shocked to see that they were indeed special ninja cats from another dimension. And that dimension was actually fictional.

"How the hell does this stuff happen? You guys are a television show! Next thing you know Black Star will come falling through the ceiling yelling "Welcome to my really big show!" and that would be terrible! Just awful! I'm so glad you guys aren't Black Star. So glad… And what if it would have been Excalibur?" And cue nervous driveling from Nicky, not many of them were paying attention though, still mesmerized by the images on the screen.

"So… people from this universe can watch our lives through this television for entertainment? How disgusting," Spirit muttered under his breath. _Argh… I'm gonna have to learn their names all _over_ again! I don't even remember half of them! Only Pein and Konan._

"Does that mean random people will know our future too, yeah?" I looked to see a person who had hair that resembled Foofy talking, a hand placed thoughtfully to his chin. Some of the others visibly tensed. I guess it would be pretty messed up to have people watching your lives in another place, knowing how you will die and what not. _Wow that's actually really terrible. I'm glad my life isn't like that… or is it? It's like real life Sims!_

"Tobi wants to know what happens!" My eyes shifted to a short haired fellow with an orange swirly mask, hopping up and down excitedly. _I think that's Ghast… I think. _Foofy smacked him on the head and smirked when Ghast held his head complaining about how "Deidara-sempai" hated him.

"Shut up Tobi, un! Why would you want to learn when you die, yeah?" Pein cleared his throat to get the group's attention.

"Well, knowing this information, from this moment on none of us are allowed to research our future or our world. We wouldn't want to alter anything important in our plans, would we?" A few of them shook their heads. "Very well. Itachi, destroy these computer devices." Itachi walked to the front of the computer before I jumped in front of him waving my arms.

"Hang on a second! I need this for homework and stuff! Let me just put a password on it so no one can get on but me, is that okay?" Itachi looked to Pein who nodded slowly.

"Fine. As long as no one can use it besides you it's okay. But if I ever see someone else on, I will have it destroyed." I nodded and released a breath of anxiety. _That was wayyyyy too close._

"Now that we're fucking human I need a damn sacrifice for Jashin-sama. How about you bitch," the white-haired guy growled menacingly, pointing a finger towards me. "For putting me in that shitty drawer! I'll kill you, you fucking bitch!" _Oh god it's happened! I knew my dislike towards Marshmallow would come back to get me one day, and it turns out he's a complete psycho! _I heard a gasp somewhere to my left, probably Vash, before backing up against the desk as much as I could. But before he could take another step in my direction, someone grabbed Marshmallow by the collar, pulling him back roughly enough for him to fall backwards. Professor Layton looked down at him tiredly before sighing out loud.

"Idiot. You can't kill them, remember?" They continued their argument and I took this moment to look around at the other members, who were also looking around at things in a new light. And then I realized something.

"Hey, you guys are gonna need new clothes, unless you're planning on staying inside all day. Someone will be bound to recognize you if you're wearing those outfits since you wear them in the anime." A few of them nodded and started talking about ways they could fix that. I started to tune them out, not out of boredom, but out of pure shock.

_It's strange how only twenty minutes ago, I thought I might die at the hands of a magical assassin kitty and now I've relaxed enough that I'm able to think somewhat normally. Perhaps it's because they also seem relatively calm. Would it be different if we had accidentally changed them earlier? Well of course it would have! We would probably be dead, just like Pein said. We're lucky that we helped them out. Thank goodness for our extreme love of kitties. Oh my gosh, what if they had been gerbils? I would have never taken them in! And then they'd come back to kill me and Vash would die too just for being there!_

I started to hyperventilate from my over-imaginative mind until I felt a weight on my shoulder. My breath caught in my throat and I looked behind me to see Ghast patting me reassuringly.

"Stop worrying Nicky-chan! Tobi will play games with you now that he has thumbs, so don't worry about that! Deidara-sempai said he'd play too!" I blinked at him.

"Hey! I didn't say that, yeah! Those games are stupid, hm!"

"Shush sempai! Don't say that in front of Nicky-chan! She loves her games!" Tobi tried to cover Foofy's (who shall remain Foofy since I can't roll my "r's") mouth with a gloved hand, but that just made Foofy even more mad.

"I'm gonna blow you up Tobi, un!" He grabbed for the side of his hip, but stopped when he didn't feel anything there. Confused he looked around him. "Hey, what happened to my clay, yeah?" Marshy also glanced around with an angry glare.

"Where the fuck is my damn scythe?"

"And my puppets," Spirits added. The other members started arguing over who took what when Pein silenced them. Vash cleared her throat loudly from behind the crowd.

"I didn't see any weapons with you when you changed back. You must have left them behind, so be quiet. What if Jen gets home? You'll be thrown out like that," Vash snapped her fingers to emphasize the fastness of Jen's wrath. They shook their heads keeping silent, except for the stupid albino guy (whose real name I can't remember), until Professor Layton quieted him down with a hard punch. "Also, we're going to have to make some rules here, for the rest of the more… challenged members." There were some grumbles, but Pein nodded his head.

"If it is reasonable, we will accept your rules since it's your house." Vash gave him a random thumbs-up sign. _I'm so glad she's the diplomatic one here. I probably would have been too scared to actually assert myself in front of them._

"No loud noises, especially when Jen is home. If she finds out about you guys, there's nothing we can do. No fighting or breaking things in this house. No killing people. No-"

"Hell no! I have to have my fucking sacrifices-!"

"No. You don't even have a weapon and they don't just hand them out around here. You'll just have to deal with sacrificing gross rats or something. But you have to always clean up your mess or someone will get suspicious and send cops over here. Also, if you guys are going to be stealing clothes, food and whatever else, you'll have to be very careful about it. If someone finds out then we'll all get in trouble. And all of you are grown men, or women in Konan's case, so I expect you to clean up after yourself, okay?" Pein looked to the group.

"Be responsible for your messes, and don't do anything to jeopardize our stay here. If any of you break the rules, I will dismember you in the most painful way possible."

No one said anything for a minute, but the silence was soon broken by a small whimper. I leaned out of my chair so I could peak around the blob of ninjas, only to see Rin crying on the couch. _Oh man… I forgot about her. I guess even though she does seem older, she's still a little kid. _Feeling guilty, I stood up and walked over to her, pulling her into an awkward hug and rubbing her back.

"I'm going to take her home. Her parents should be back anyway," I told no one in particular, and grabbed Rin's hand after putting my shoes on, tugging her out the door into the cool evening air.

**Vash's POV**

Even though I didn't like the kid that much, I still felt bad that she got caught up in this kind of situation. I mean, I was surprised how well Nicky and I were taking it, not to mention having a child witness it. One moment my heart was racing and I felt like I'd have to fight for my life and the next we're all sitting around talking somewhat normally.

"Unless you gentleman want to sleep in your cloaks tonight, you might want to go get some "shopping" done. And you'll probably have to get food sometime tomorrow. I guess we have enough sweets for you guys to snack on for tonight." Pein looked to the group of ninja and chose Konan, Kakuzu, Sasori and Itachi to go get the clothes. Before he sent them off I gave them a warning. "Be careful of the security cameras. You've seen on those "World's Dumbest Criminals" shows how easily people can get caught and tracked down if they're spotted on those things." They just nodded in understanding and disappeared in the blink of an eye. _Wow… I guess they really are ninja. What a strange day._

"Can Tobi eat this cake now? Its smells delicious!" I gave him a flat look for his childish demeanor. _I guess we'll have to deal with more than one child from now on. At least for a while. I wonder how old he really is. How old are any of these guys for that matter? How is this going to work out?_

"Yeah go for it. Just don't eat it all or Nicky will be sad." He clapped his hands happily and walked over to the table, serving himself a piece of cake. I glanced back to the remaining ninja who just stood there somewhat awkwardly. "Well? Why don't you take a seat and have some celebration food. It was kinda for you guys anyway." Slowly, a few of them made their way over to the table while I took a seat on the couch, switching the TV on to House. I wasn't really hungry anymore. Not that I was that big of a fan of sweets anyway, I just liked to make them and watch other people enjoy them. Some weight shifted on the couch and from the corner of my eye I could see Pein sit down, a plate of brownies in his hands. _It seems really strange for criminal ninja to be eating sweets. _The weirdness of the moment made me let out a soft chuckle. Pein looked over at me with his ever neutral expression.

"Why are you laughing?" I gave a small grin.

"It's weird to me to think that you guys are supposed to be dangerous ninjas, and here you are sitting on my couch, watching House and eating brownies. It's pretty unbelievable." He was quiet for a second, staring at the television screen.

"Yes. It is."

"AHHHHH IT'S PETEY PIRAHNA! HE CAME TO LIFE TOO AND HE'S GONNA EAT ME OR BEAT ME AT TENNIS!" I switched my gaze to the door to see Nicky come busting in, out of breath. "Vash! Petey… Piranha! He's alive!" From behind Nicky I saw the shadow of a man whose body was half black and half white. The stranger part was it appeared as though his entire upper half was being engulfed by a venus flytrap. I glanced over at Pein. He was just watching the spectacle with a wry… almost grin on his face. That was close enough to convince me that the plant guy was just another part of the gang that I happened to not notice. _Damn that's a scary looking ninja. _"Wahh! He's behind me!" Nicky leaped from her position by the door and faceplanted on the floor in a heap. "Unnngh… he's wum uv da ninda, iddn't he?" Though I could barely understand what she said, I nodded anyway and patted her head.

"Very good Nicky. Now go eat some cake before it's all gone." Immediately she shot up from her position and ran to the kitchen, instantly turning shy when she realized the other members were in there. Just then, the plant man walked into the living room looking confused.

"Who is **Petey Piranha?**"

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Now go my friends! Vote for Vash's pairing!

**Nicky: ***flies into the sunset* Weee!

**Vash: ***facepalm* You drank the super sugar Mountain Dew again, didn't you?

**Foosha: **Hehehe… noooo. Also, if you guys ever wanna talk to me about the story or whatever, add me on msn! flogangoogle hotmail .com ! Without the random spaces of course and the "at" symbol in there.


	9. Babysitting Criminals

**Foosha:** The votes are in! And there are ties all around. Here are the ties for each girl.

Vash- Pein, Kisame, and Kakuzu.

Nicky- Deidara, Kisame, Zetsu, and Sasori.

So help me out people! D: Also, thanks for the reviews Chillybean, Miko Hayashi, Yuti-Chan, Hex Aether, riptocs, and DeeaE!:D And thanks for the favorites everyone else! You guys are awesome!

**Vash:** Well aren't you popular Nicky.

**Nicky:** Ah no way! More people voted for me, that's all.

**Vash:** Sure sure. Foosha doesn't own Naruto or any other random references.

**Nicky:** Wesnegdid.

**Vash:** Like that one. Foosha doesn't own that reference.

**Nicky:** Why didn't the world explode?

**Vash:** Sigh.

**Foosha: **Sorry if you find any tense confusions! I'm trying to pick them all out so if you spot one let me know!

* * *

><p>The next morning I woke up normally, blinking the sun out of my eyes before pulling the covers over my face. Vash would be here this morning. She decided to take the day off so she could help me watch the "children" and make sure they didn't destroy anything. I groaned out loud remembering that we didn't have kittens anymore. <em>All my life all I've ever wanted was a pet that I could keep from its baby form, up until it died. It looks like that'll never happen at this rate. Sigh. <em>I turned over on my right side, only to come face-to-face with an orange mask.

"Good morning girly! Tobi saw Nicky-chan looking cold so Tobi thought that even if Tobi isn't kitty, Tobi could still keep girly warm!" And it hugged me. HUGGED ME! _WHAT IS THIS THING!_

"GET OFF OF ME YOU SLEEP GOBLIN!" I immediately sat up and reached to my left, grabbing my obese Tyrannosaurus stuffed animal, and chucking it at the creature. Of course the creature easily caught Chompy (T-rex's name) but, it instantly released him and jumped off of the bed, hopping up and down while pointing at the discarded plush.

"What is that?" And before I could escape to cry to Vash, the goblin ran out of the room screeching about "a fat green bomb"._What the hay? Hay is for horses. Yes I know, thank you for stating the obvious inner-self. You're welcome outer-self. _

After putting on my slippers, I plodded to the living room, still unsure if what just happened was a dream or not.

**Vash's POV**

I woke up to the sound of yelling coming from the other room. _I'm trying to sleep! What's up with all the screaming? _I felt around for my phone, finding it on the ground next to me and pulling it close to read the time: 9:36 am. _Hold on, the ground? _Groggily I pushed myself up and looked around with blurry vision to see that I was indeed on the floor near my bed. _What?_ _I've never rolled off the bed before! _Still slightly unstable from sleep, I shakily climbed to my knees and peeked over the fold-out mattress to see a familiar head of orange-ish/red hair. I narrowed my eyes before snatching my glasses from the arm rest and setting them on my nose. Sure enough, Pein was in my bed. _Bastard! _

I stood up and, after stepping over the bodies of the remaining sleeping members, walked into the laundry room. I grabbed the cleaning bucket and dumped all of the cleaning supplies out. Heading into the kitchen to fill it up with cold water, I only paused to dump some ice into it, making sure it would be _really_ cold. Casually, I walked back over to _my_ bed, noticing that Konan was also sleeping in it. _Pfft, and I actually liked her too. This should teach them. _Not caring in the slightest that my bed would be drenched, I stopped at the side closest to Pein, and abruptly dumped the cold water over both of their heads. I tossed the bucket to the side and began to rapidly strangle/shake the Bastard. I grinned as his eyes shot open in shock, before glaring at me and grabbing my wrists in a tight hold. He shut his eyes and seemed to pull himself together before addressing me.

"What are you doing disturbing my sleep, girl?" I ignored his question and just glared at him a bit before glancing over at Konan. By this time she was awake and less than pleased to discover her drenched form. The hold on my wrists tightened, demanding my attention.

"You'd better be gone by the time I'm finished with my shower, Bastard." I said, my voice deceptively calm. Wrenching my hands out of his grip, which he allowed, I stormed off to the bathroom and slammed the door.

**Nicky's POV**

I ran into Vash as she entered the bathroom, looking seriously irritated.

"Uh…"

"My bed! That Bastard and his girlfriend actually thought…_my _bed! They put me on the freaking ground! How the hell did I sleep though that?" She looked over and seemed to notice me for the first time. "Oh hey, I renamed Pein. He shall now only be known as Bastard. I'm taking a shower. If I ever catch either of them like that again…"

"Okay then! I'll talk to you over pancakes!" Without another word, I dashed through the bathroom door and shut it behind me, leaving a mumbling Vash to her thoughts.

"Good, you're awake. Make us food." I turned around and came face-to-face with none other than Leader himself. I gave a small pout and folded my arms.

"No "good morning" huh? That's kinda rude. Fine I'll try to make pancakes for you. I can at least make those without messing up the taste." He nodded his head and gestured to the kitchen. That's when I noticed they were all in similar pajamas consisting of different colors of t-shirts and long cotton plaid pants. I snorted and clapped a hand over my mouth to try to hide it but, someone noticed.

"What's so funny?" Fishy asked standing up and stretching (what he could at least), donned in a deep blue version of the outfit. It appeared that the rest of them had also just woken up, groggily rubbing their eyes and sitting on their beds of mismatched blankets.

"Ah… nothin'. You guys are just wearing the same outfit but different colors. What's up with that?" He shrugged and walked over to the couch bed and took a seat.

"I'm not the one who went shopping…" he muttered, but shut up almost instantly when Izaya gave him a pointed glare. Suddenly the orange goblin jumped out from behind some of the group members and shook me fiercely.

"Girly didn't explode! Tobi thought that bomb would kill you!" My eyes widened and I pushed him away unsuccessfully. That's when I noticed that he wasn't a sleep goblin, but Ghast as a person. _Well… I think he's a person. Unless he really is a goblin under that mask. Is there even such thing as a goblin ninja? _Even though I was quite shy around unfamiliar people, curiosity always made ask weird things.

"Why do you wear a mask?" He stopped talking for a second and just looked at me, I'm assuming in a confused way because I really couldn't tell with only one eye hole.

"Tobi likes his mask." I shrugged. _Good enough for me. I like feeling things that look like they have weird textures and I don't really have a good reason for that either._ Speaking of that strange trait of mine…

"Can I touch it? I mean… I don't wanna take it, just feel it." I reached out with my hand towards his face and he violently pushed me on the ground and ran off screaming.

"No! It's Tobi's mask!" There was a loud thump and I realized that Foofy had tripped him. I sat up, rubbing my head that I bumped on the ground. _Owie…_

"What's this about a bomb, yeah? Are you guys holding out on us, hm?" He looked to me with a raised eyebrow and I swallowed, shaking my head back and forth rapidly, while picking myself up from the floor.

"Nonono! I would never have a bomb! And neither would Vash! That would be totally illegal and dangerous and knowing me I'd probably make it explode on myself and die! I always do that in video games," I squeaked nervously, picking at my fingers and not meeting anyone's eyes. It's much easier to talk to someone who is wearing a mask, not someone whose eyes you can see.

"Relax, un. We've been living with you for almost a month now. We already know how weird you are, yeah." _True dat._

"Yeah I know. I just have a hard time talking to other people… sorry. I'll make some pancakes now." I stepped over the mess of blankets and weaved between the standing ninja who chatted amongst themselves, somewhat ignoring me as I walked by. Except for one.

"Hey bitch! Make some food I'm fucking starving!" If this was anyone else besides Marshmallow, I'd probably be running away crying right now. Since it was him though, all I could do start laughing, even though I was pretty terrified of him, I knew he would catch me no matter what. He glared menacingly at me and I waved my arms in front of myself as I backed up towards the kitchen.

"I-I'm sorry! W-when I'm nervous or scared sometimes I just start l-laughing! I'm making breakfast right now so h-hang on!" I turned and ran away from him into the safety of the kitchen, though the area between the kitchen and living room is completely open so he could still see me. In order to ignore him, I busied myself with making enough pancakes for all of them. There was a movement on my right and I looked to see Lila staring at me.

"I'll help you. If you can make these pancakes it can't be too hard," she offered politely, though I did hear an insult in there. I gave a small smile and nodded, asking her to take the pancakes I had already made and placing them in the toaster oven to stay warm. There was a dripping sound and my eyes slid away from watching the pancakes cook to Lila, whom I just noticed was completely wet.

"Uh… why are you all wet?" She sighed and continued her task, tucking some dripping hair behind her ear.

"Your friend dumped water on me for sleeping in her bed."

"You took her bed? Hahaha! No wonder she was mad!" I laughed lightly and flipped a pancake, realizing it was burned a bit._She doesn't seem so bad. Like a calmer Vash. Probably because she's used to being around all these guys all the time._ We continued our light banter as we finished up the last of the pancakes, setting them out on the table before hearing an angry sound come from the living room.

**Vash's POV**

"Who the hell made this mess?" I shrieked from the doorway. I stared around the living room in shock. It was trashed! Every square inch of the carpet was covered by various items from all over the house. There were blankets piled atop each other in a messy heap and clothing strewn about in abandon! I took a few minutes to breathe and calm down before snapping a glare on the few members that had frozen in the center of the chaos at my exclamation. "I thought we agreed that cleaning up after yourself was a rule! How can you ignore something this…messy! Now, the blankets I understand, but where the hell did you dig up all of this other junk? Were you going through our stuff? You can't just touch and move other people's stuff without their permission! Now put all of this shit back before I kick you all out on your asses! And I mean NOW!" I doubled over and drew in gasping breaths, trying to regain my breathing. _Damn these guys piss me off. I haven't had a freak out that badly since Nicky had that freaking painting project! _I shuddered at the memory. There had been paint _everywhere!_ I snapped out of my daze to see that the guy with the stitches had started to fold the blankets, Redhead and Sharkface started to clean as well. I nodded in approval and began to navigate my way through the mess on my way to the kitchen. I huffed in annoyance when I saw a few books on the floor, then paused when I recognized one in particular. _Oh crap. _I picked it up. _"_Nicky…."

"Hm?" She piped up from the kitchen. I walked into the room to find her serving pancakes to the members at the kitchen island, which included MaskBoy, Bastard, FlowerGirl, RedEyes, and Ponytail. I held up her journal and watched her freeze, her eye twitching and her face bright red. She rushed over to me and tore the book from my hands, cradling it to her form.

"W-who read this!" She cried, waving the item in the air for everyone to see. RedHead answered from behind me.

"We all did." Nicky paled and completely shut down, slumping over in her pajama/apron outfit. She dragged her feet as she walked past me, stopping ever so often to pick up other things that belonged to her along the way until she reached the bathroom/bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her. My anger flared back up as I turned to the Akatsuki and crossed my arms.

"Great job, guys… Now listen up! I didn't think I needed to bring this up, but apparently you guys know nothing about common courtesy. So, new rule! No going through our stuff or you'll be living in the shed for the rest of your time here. That journal was personal to Nicky! So keep your damn noses out of stuff that isn't yours! If you absolutely have to know what something is, or want to touch it, or need to find something, just ask. But wait for permission. This is not your house. It is ours." I narrowed my eyes at Pein, "And don't take other people's beds! We'll figure out a better sleeping arrangement tonight. You guys can go get some more blankets and pillows today while I go grocery shopping. If some of you come with me, you'll have a chance to see what's there and make a list, then go steal it later. Nicky and I will keep buying our own food, but anything you want you'll have to get yourself." Bastard took the last bite of his pancakes and pushed his empty plate away.

"Fine. Konan, Deidara, Sasori, Itachi and myself will accompany you." I nodded in acceptance. _Oh joy…_

"Alright, that'll work. You guys are the most normal looking anyway. Go get dressed and clean up your mess, then we'll leave." The members nodded, and after cleaning up left for their bags of clothes, pulling out casual jeans, shorts, plain t-shirts, socks and shoes. I left the group to go find Nicky, already wearing my usual "SUU" shirt and jeans.

**Nicky's POV**

"Argh… I'll die of embarrassment before anything else at this rate. Stupid stupid stupid! Hang on… their criminals so it shouldn't matter! It's not like I'll ever see them again when they leave… So stop thinking about it! Just ignore them! Yeah that's right. Hmm hmm! Ah too much Regular Show." Ever since I made it to the sanctuary of my room, I had been trying to calm myself down and try to think more rationally about the situation. "Besides, it's only a girl's journal. There's no way they'd ever remember stuff from it, much less care about it. Yeah!"

"Are you done?" I looked up from Fluffy (my stuffed dog) to see Vash leaning against the door frame, arms folded.

"Yeah I'm done. What's up?"

"Well I'm going to the store to get some food and I'm taking some of them with me so they can get a feel for what they might need. So you'll be stuck here with the rest." She walked in the room and put a hand on my shoulder. "And don't worry about that stuff. Who cares anyway?" I smiled and nodded, standing up.

"Yeah I know. You're right. So who do I get stuck with?"

"Well…"

**Living Room After Vash Leaves**

I sat on the leather couch, perched between Fishy and Tobi (whose name I finally remembered), a frown on my features replaying the situation in my mind.

"_We'll be back in a few hours, don't kill each other!" Vash called before shutting the door. I stood dumbstruck in the living room, next to Cal (whom I didn't know was Cal until recently), Fishy, Tobi, Professor Layton and Marshmallow. _

"_You can't leave me with them! I'll die!"_

I sighed out loud and turned the television on to SpongeBob, handing the remote to Tobi, who happily accepted it pressing buttons at his pleasure. No one talked for a bit. Even Marshmallow was silent, brooding in a corner of the room, mumbling something about Jashin._This is very uncomfortable. Find something to talk about Nicky, you can do it! Remember, don't care what they think! They won't be around forever!_ My vision drifted over to my left to Fishy, who sat in a relaxed manner with a leg propped up, still wearing his pj's. _His skin is blue…_

"Why is your skin blue?" He turned his head and blinked, before giving a large grin.

"It's a secret," he replied and winked. I was taken aback by his friendliness and directed my attention back towards the TV, trying to ignore the feeling of eyes on me. I could not stop my curiosity though, so I turned back to look at him.

"What about those slits on your face? Are they like gills? Can you breathe under water? Or are they just for looks? Can I touch them?" I covered my mouth. _Whoops. Word vomit._ He just chuckled and ruffled my hair. I blushed slightly. _I'm not a child! Don't treat me as such!_

"Sure, kiddo." I frowned but put one of my hands on his face anyway, cautiously at first, but once I felt the strange texture of his skin, I continued to his "gill-like" features.

"Whoa! They are like gills! Cool!" I gushed, excitedly waving my arms around when I spotted Cal. Still in my relatively hyper/excited state, I ignored the nervousness I held earlier and pointed at him. "Hey! I want to touch you too! Is that a real plant? Does it grow on you? Or is the bottom half of you a plant? If that's true, what kind of plant are you? I've never seen a venus flytrap like that before!" As I talked, I had made my way to the computer chair he had been sitting in. I'm pretty into science stuff, and these guys are just awesome! He looked at me questionably.

"I don't know I've always been like this. I don't mind if you touch it. **Just be careful and don't break something, stupid girl!"** My eyes lit up at the two different voices.

"Are you guy's different personalities too? Wow! I don't even know how to describe how strange and awesome you guys are! It's just amazing! And your eyes are yellow too! Neato! Can you see in the dark? Though I'm not sure what that would have to do with your eyes being yellow, but maybe it does!" I felt the plant part of him as I babbled, feeling the texture of a large plant instead of skin. "Wow! It really is a plant! How odd!" Before he could speak again, I saw Professor Layton sitting at the kitchen table, looking at a book of mine. _I wonder what's under his mask? Discovery! _I skipped over to him and knelt down so I was peeking over the side of the table watching him carefully. He glanced down at me wearily.

"What is it you want?" I beamed at him and gestured to his mask.

"Take off your mask! I wanna see what you look like too! I mean, you have strange colored eyes and those strange lumps on your back under your shirt! I mean not that it's weird, it's just that I'm interested in seeing what you look like!" He glared at me slightly before closing the book that I recognized to be the Dictionary. _Why would he read that?_

"That depends. How much will you pay me?" My face fell and my brows furrowed.

"What? If anything you should owe me money! Vash and I have been paying for your welfare for the past few weeks! Come on, please?" He looked at me again and sighed.

"Okay. You can't scream or I'll sew your mouth closed." I nodded and shivered at the thought of having my mouth sewn shut. He removed his face mask and I gasped at the stitches he revealed etched on either side of his mouth. I then also noticed the stitches on his arms.

"Whoa! What happened? Are you okay?" Professor Layton gave me a flat look, moving some of his brown hair away from his face. _Wow. Even the weird ones don't actually look that bad. _

"I'm fine, obviously. I'm a ninja. I can take care of myself, unlike you child, who is always getting hurt." A pout covered my face and I stood up.

"Why does everyone keep calling me child? How old are you guys anyways? You don't seem that much older." He chuckled softly.

"Be weary girl. Some of us are older than we appear."

"Prove it."

"How old do you think I am?"

"Hm… in your early thirties."

"Wrong."

"Well at least tell me!"

"What do I get?" I slapped a hand to my forehead.

"Fine. I'll give you five dollars. That's all the money I have in my wallet right now. The rest I gave to Vash for groceries." He frowned but agreed.

"I guess that will do for now. I'm 91. Now give me your money." At first I was shocked, but then I started grumbling as I grabbed my wallet from the counter, taking out the five and giving it to him.

"You liar. How do I know you're really 91?" Without answering, he lifted up his shirt uncovering four masks, and even more stitches, evenly spaced on his back. "Why do you have masks on your back? In case you lose your other one?"

"I have five hearts that I can replace. I could potentially live forever and eventually become a billionaire. It would be incredibly easy to do that in this world also. Come to think of it…" Suddenly he got a mischievous look on his face. "I'm going out for a while." He slipped his mask on and walked over to the bathroom, exiting in record time with dark jeans and a black shirt. His mask was off again but, he still looked creepy with the obvious stitches.

"Hey wait a minute! I'm supposed to be watching you guys! If you're going out don't get caught! I won't help you out!" Again he laughed at me before disappearing in a thing of smoke. I stood up and stomped my foot in frustration. "Well great! I hope he doesn't screw things up!" Fishy let out another laugh from his spot on the couch, while Tobi just continued watching a fuzzy screen and Cal was talking to himself in the computer chair. "Where's stupid head?"

Alarmed, I searched around the living room finding no trace, so I walked into the bedroom to find him sitting on my bed, the husk of my once obese dinosaur in his hands. Stuffed animal fluff filled the room, along with the skins of my other toys laying ripped to pieces scattered about the floor. My heart stopped. The evil man looked up from what he was doing to see my wide-eyed face. He smirked and continued to cut up my dinosaur.

"This is what you get bitch, for making me sacrifice fucking rats for Jashin-sama. And since I can't fucking hurt you, I'll murder all your shitty stuffed toys."

At that moment, I think my soul escaped my body, because for once in my life, I fainted and my vision turned to darkness as I hit the carpet of fluff and fur.

**Vash's POV**

"That's a banana and that's a star fruit. Now, can we finish shopping? You guys can come here another time with Nicky and she'll be happy to tell you all about the foods. I need to get this shopping done and get home. I'm worried about leaving her with those guys…" In the past two hours I've been stopped time and time again by the group of alleged ninja. They kept asking me about the different foods they saw and what they tasted like. Or where the food came from and what type of food group they belonged to and other things. Even Bastard asked questions once in a while, well… more like demanding statements. _I really should take the time to answer their questions…but I'm too worried about Nicky right now._

Our group of mismatched people received quite a few stares, though not as many as we could have had if the plant man had been with us. So I was grateful for that. With a sigh I picked up a container of Nesquik, the last item on my shopping list.

"Alright. I've got everything now. Are you guys finished with your lists?" They nodded. "Then let's get back home and save Nicky."

"Yeah, un. I bet Tobi has been driving her crazy, yeah," Deidara commented as they all followed me in line. I chuckled nervously.

"Yeah well… he's not the one I'm worried about."

**Nicky's POV**

I awoke to the face of Cal looking at me.

"Oh look she isn't dead. **Damn."** I sat up fast and held my spinning head, realizing that I was now in the living room on the floor. Looking around I noticed Fishy, Tobi, and Cal watching me.

"What happened? Did I actually faint?" Tobi nodded vigorously.

"Nicky-chan fainted after seeing Hidan with all her animal friends!" _Oh yeah… my babies…_ I stood up and dashed back into my room to see an unconscious Hidan knocked into the wall, Professor Layton standing amongst the mess. He looked over at me when I walked in.

"I'm sorry about my partner's incompetence. I'll fix this."

"How are you going to fix this! Look what he did to them! They're ruined!" I sniffled and rubbed my eyes, unable to stop myself from crying. "Y-you have to pay for this! That T-rex was 45 dollars! And that mechanical Totoro was 60 dollars! I hope you stole enough money to cover that!" Though it would never be the same if he just paid me back. I'd probably never be able to find most of these older stuffed animals ever again. At that thought a few tears came down my cheeks. Professor Layton coughed from where he was standing and mumbled something under his breath.

"I… I can fix them but, I'm not paying you back for them. Deal?" I blinked and soon a smile came over my features.

"Really? You can do that?" He shook his head.

"Of course I can. I'll let you know when I finish. Just… don't tell the short one. She'd probably make me pay you back regardless from what I've read in your journal..." I nodded my head, smiling, ignoring the part about the journal.

"Okay! Uh… thanks Layton. It means a lot. I'll be in the living room."_I guess even for criminals, they still have a soul. Or maybe it's just because Vash would most definitely make him pay me back. Either way, I'll be glad to have them fixed._ I gave a small wave before retreating to the couch to see the rest of the guys bored as usual. _Well… I guess I could figure out something for them to do. _"Hey, you guys wanna play a game?"

**Vash's POV**

We finally got back to the house around two. I walked through the front door to see Nicky laughing maniacally while playing Super Monkey Ball 2 with the SharkFace, PlantMan, and MaskBoy. The other two were yet to be seen. _Oh, thank you. The house is in one piece! _

"Damnit! I keep falling off at that turn! This game looks cute but it's kind of hard." SharkFace commented to Nicky, rubbing the back of his head. She nodded to him.

"I know right? Keep practicing though! You're doing better than you were earlier. And besides, I don't think any of us are going to catch up to Tobi. He's like a genius at this stuff for some weird reason."

"If black would quit arguing. Perhaps we could win one too. **It's not my fault you keep choosing the wrong way!"**

"Tobi likes this game! Tobi is good at it!"

"Yeah you are! High five! Oh… hey Vash. When did you get home?" I chuckled at her and continued to the kitchen. As I started putting away the groceries the ninjas that had accompanied me disappeared in a swirl of smoke. _They must be leaving to go do their 'shopping' now. Geez, they should have waited until later, not right after we got back! _

"Just now. It took forever because _some_ people had to ask at least one question every other _second_. You guys look like you've been having fun. Any problems?" Nicky laughed nervously.

"Uh… nope! Everything has been fixed so don't worry about it!"

"Ah… okay. I'll worry about it later then." Nicky handed her controller off to the plant man, who gladly accepted it, before walking over to me.

"Ya know, I think we should play a game with all of them tonight. Like a twenty questions type of thing! That way we can get to know them and figure out what they do! I have to work tomorrow, so I won't be able to see them that much. What do you think? And maybe we can watch a movie too?" I weighed the options in my head.

"I guess that could be a way to keep them calm for a while. Okay, let's do that and afterwards we can have dinner and figure out better sleeping arrangements. Speaking of food, have they had any lunch yet? I'm worried about PlantMan."

"Oh… uh no. I guess we should do that first. Then bonding time, here we come!"

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha:<strong> Notice how Vash has become more emotionally verbal since she's had to deal with these grown children? I think I would snap too.

**Vash:** You have no idea! How could someone be okay with just stealing my bed?

**Nicky:** You will always be sore about that, won't ya?

**Vash:** *grumbles* Yes...

**Foosha:** I drew some interesting pictures of the beginning of this chapter! If you're interested, they're on my deviantart account as always. I feel like watching Kiki's Delivery Service. So I'll see you guy's next chapter! *runs away*


	10. Fun With Bonding

**Foosha: **It's here! Bonding time! Also, next time I have a test I will not be updating until it's over. I failed my chemistry test. T_T And I'm not even sure how!

**Vash: **You'll do better next time. *reassuring pat*

**Foosha: **Anyways... thanks for the reviews DeeaE, Chillybean, Hex Aether, and Yuti-Chan! 8D You're all fantastic!

**Nicky: **Foosha doesn't own Naruto, Godzilla or dinosaurs.

**Foosha: **If you're curious look up the dinosaur name when it's mentioned! It's ginormous! O.O Seriously! Anehways… On with the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Nicky's POV<strong>

_Bonding time, what was I thinking? Why would they even tell us about themselves? Unless they want to inflate their own egos I guess… who knows. _My inner arguments had been going on through lunch and resumed until all the ninja returned. After helping them put away their unusual groceries (seriously who actually steals that Buddha's Hand fruit? Who would want to eat that?), we had them hang out in the living room while we conversed in the kitchen about how to setup our game.

"Hey, what happened to Rin? I thought you had to watch her today," Vash asked absent mindedly while preparing a tray of random snack foods for our game. I leaned back on my elbows against the countertop, sighing.

"Yeah well… she seemed pretty freaked out. Probably would have been bad to have her over. Her dad happened to get a day off today or something so she's going with him somewhere anyway. I guess it's for the best." She nodded her head in understanding and turned to me with tray in hand.

"Well, what shall we do first?" I looked to the ceiling in thought. Earlier, I had actually googled some ideas for "get to know you" games and a few childish ones came up, but nothing that sounded all that awesome. _Oh I know!_

"We should play that "Never Have I Ever" game! And like… each person who has done something that someone else hasn't has to eat that nasty natto drink stuff your grandma sent us! That way we can get rid of it. It's killing two birds with one stone!" _Please innocence, save me from having to eat that nasty fermented sticky bean drink. I will vomit to no end if that sickness touches my tongue!_ Her face paled and she nodded slowly.

"Oh god, yes let's. Those cases have been gathering dust for too long and they're taking up valuable pantry space," she agreed and led the way to the living room, me skipping at her heels. I was excited to see the reactions of the criminals when they tasted their defeat. _SWEET DEFEAT! BWAHAHAHAHA!_

"Hehehe…"

"Nicky stop thinking weird things. Okay guys, listen up. Nicky has decided that to better understand each other, we should do a bonding game-"

"No. We need to be looking for the portal, not participating in unnecessary activities," Orangey interrupted, folding his arms in finality. I stomped my foot in a childish manner and put my hands on my hips.

"Oh come on! It won't kill you. It'll just help us understand your needs better and ya know… maybe how important it is to help get you back. Plus, I'm really curious about you guys, and I think you owe us some better explanation than magically appearing. Besides, it's not like the portal is gonna go anywhere! It's a portal! No feets!" Motioning to my legs with both arms I hoped to emphasize the importance of mobility. "We promise to help you look for the portal tomorrow as much as we can, okay? It's just one day! Pleeeeease?" I clasped both of my hands together and held out the "please" as long as I could before I heard him sigh and wave me off with his hand.

"Fine. One day. But tomorrow I expect you two to look. Understood?" I saluted and Vash just nodded like a normal person before we both took a seat on the floor, motioning them to do the same to form a circular formation. Vash sat at one end between Lila and Marshy while I sat directly across from her between Foofy and Izaya. Inconspicuously (I hoped at least) I glanced between the two, taking in their facial features and lack of expressions. _Sheesh. These guys need serious fun in their lives. Being a ninja sounds like it'd be fun, except for killing people I guess…_

"So, the game is called "Never Have I Ever". All you do is go around the circle clockwise and say something that you've never done, whoever has done what someone says they haven't, has to drink this beverage," Vash explained, gesturing to the cans of natto in the middle next to the tray of snacks that Tobi, Fishy and I had been gobbling silently (or as silently as you can gobble). _Hehe gobble is a weird word. Reminds me of turkeys. _Marshy scoffed from his position beside Professor Layton.

"What the fuck kind of stupid ass game is this shit? There's no fucking punishment and no way in hell to fucking lose." For a quick moment there was an evil glint that reflected off Vash's glasses, but it was soon gone. I shivered involuntarily. _She's going to enjoy this way too much. Then again, so am I._

"Ah, well then, even **you** should be able to understand it." Marshy was about to jump at Vash but was stopped by the ever annoyed Professor Layton. _I think I'll call him Prolay for short now. Even though I love his name, it's just too long. Or I could say it like Luke. "Professa!" Yeah…probably not that._ "Okay. Who wants to start?"

"I will start," Pein stated, looking to all of us calmly. "I have never-"

"No! You have to start "Never have I ever…"! That's why it's called that," I interrupted, but quickly placed my hands over my mouth and looked away embarrassed. _Stupid brain._

"I have never-," _jerk! _"-owned a stuffed animal." Suddenly I could feel the blood drain from my face and I shakily looked to Vash who appeared equally appalled. _Shit! I didn't plan on this to backfire! Curse you innocence! This is what you did to me! _My body slumped forward until I felt someone shake my left shoulder. I wearily looked up to see Foofy smirking slightly as he pointed to the dreadful liquid.

"Aren't you supposed to drink this when you've done something, hm?" My eyes narrowed half-heartedly and I turned back to the middle of the circle, grabbing one of the natto drinks. My stubbornness wouldn't let me decline such a challenge. Vash, on the other hand, just sat there, adamant not to do it. Marshy grabbed a drink from the center and shoved it into her hands.

"Drink it bitch so we can get this fucking thing over with. Don't be such a fucking bitch about it." She growled at him.

"I'm the one who makes your damn dinner, _Bitch_. I'm perfectly fine with letting you starve…or I could think of something 'fun' to do to _your _food in particular." Now it was my turn to interrupt.

"Pfft. These are the rules of the game Vash! Do it or I'll make you!" She grumbled before bringing the can towards herself. We shared a look of sympathy before we both popped open the tops, accidentally inhaling the disgusting scent that dispersed. Foofy plugged his nose and scooted away from me. "What the hell, un? That stuff smells like rotting food, yeah!"I gagged and coughed, looking to Vash with watery eyes.

"Vash you go first." She glared at me.

"No. We'll go together. Ready? 1…"

"2…"

"3…"

And at the same time we both drank the fermented bean juice as fast as we could. I tried plugging my nose with my hand halfway through so it wouldn't be as pungent, but I failed horribly. The smell burned my nostrils and the taste made me want to throw-up instantly. The slimy texture of the few beans did not agree with body in the slightest, not to mention the taste of something so foul that I thought I might have already thrown up. Once I finished it, I grabbed a handful of chips and stuffed them in my mouth to avoid puking, rubbing the tears from my eyes with one hand while feeding myself with the other. Vash was looking normal and inspecting the can quietly.

"What the hell? Why are you fine? Bleh…" I complained to Vash, stopping to hold my mouth. She shrugged.

"Probably because I have the acquired taste needed to handle it. I grew up on Japanese food after all and Nana is the one who sent them to me. I'm not saying it's good, but it isn't terrible." At that moment in time I hated Vash, but only for a minute, and that's when I realized that the rest of these guys were based on a Japanese anime. _Fuck! Of course it won't bother them as much either! Probably! Argh stupid idea! STUPID!_

"HAHAHAHA stupid bitches! I bet that fucking drink isn't even that damn bad," Marshy laughed loudly. Foofy also joined in.

"You'd never make it as a ninja, that's for sure, yeah." Kisame chuckled nervously.

"I don't know… that's a pretty strong reaction."Before anyone else could make fun of me, Tobi butted in waving his arms.

"Tobi wants to try! Never has Tobi ever been a bad boy!" There was a "thwap" and Tobi held his head.

"Tobi you're always a bad boy, hm!" Evilness returned to Vash's expression as well as mine while we watched the two argue.

"Well, all of you are criminals, so you've all been bad boys at some point, except Konan who's a girl. So all of you besides Konan have to drink it," Vash said, smirking triumphantly. There were a few groans of protest, though I think it was more from actually having to participate, not from the drink. Pein soon shut them up.

"Shut up. Just drink it so we can finish." The men nodded and picked up a drink except for Pein. Vash looked slightly irked.

"You aren't getting out of this. Drink it." Pein's look turned superior.

"I'm the leader of this organization. I don't have to do anything of the sort."

"Pein, you should just drink it so we don't spend any longer than we have to," Konan added softly. I blinked at her in surprise. _Hrm… she never talks. Maybe…maybe she has an inner evil side and is just as curious as I am to see what they do when they drink it. Ehehehe… I think I like her._ Pein appeared to submit, whether from her words or his own decision, and grabbed the concoction. One by one, the criminals drank the nauseating substance, finishing quickly, except for Spirit who just sat there quietly watching from his spot by Foofy. I looked at him quizzically.

"Hey! You're supposed to drink too!" He gave me a blank look.

"I'm a puppet. I don't drink nor eat."

"You're… a puppet? What do you mean?" _He couldn't possibly be a real puppet. Otherwise he'd have strings and someone following him around or somethin'… right? Right? _He indicated to the strange line that wrapped around his neck. _What is that? Why didn't I notice? _I blinked and openly gawked.

"Close your mouth stupid brat. You obviously don't recognize true art." _True art? What the hell is wrong with this guy? He shall be questioned later. For the sake of science!_ I closed my mouth and looked over at the hacking noises I was hearing to see Marshy having some problems. Foofy and Fishy looked just as displeased and slightly pale.

"What the fuck was that shitty stuff? That's the most disgusting piece of shit I've ever fucking tasted!"

"That was gross, yeah…"

"Tobi liked it! Tobi wants more!" I gagged at the thought of drinking again.

"Bleck… let's keep going. Cal! You're up!" He shifted in his normal-ish clothes, which we had to modify to fit his plant parts.

"Never have I ever **won that damn monkey in a ball game. This means you have to drink, girl.**" My eyes widened in horror, but I soon found a way to distract myself.

"Well so does Tobi! He won all the time!" Tobi nodded his head vigorously.

"Yes! Tobi wins! Tobi's a good boy and Tobi wants to drink more!" I reluctantly choked down another drink while Tobi happily sipped away (how he did so perfectly with his mask on I'll never know). _This game is getting dull and I haven't learned anything new. I think we should change things up a bit. _

"Hey. Let's switch this thing up to Truth or Dare. That way we still get entertainment and we can ask questions about what we wanna know. Okay? Okay. I'm first. Izaya! Truth or dare?" I turned to my right and gave him a serious look with an overdramatically raised eyebrow. From the corner of my eye I could see Vash shrug at my decision to change the game, though she would probably enjoy this more in a way. More direct torture. Izaya looked at me evenly.

"Hn… Truth."

"Damn robot…" Vash muttered under her breath.

"Grrr! Fine! What are those on your face? They are driving me crazy!" He pointed to the slanted lines on either side of his nose with a slightly quirked eyebrow. "Yeah those! What are they? Wrinkles? Are you like 91 like Prolay?"

"Prolay?" Vash questioned, I nodded to her.

"Professor's new nickname," I replied, "Now, tell me! It's truth so you have to."_Strange how none of them have questioned me still calling them by cat names. Maybe they are just used to it. _He stayed silent and calm and then shrugged.

"What? How can you not know! Excuses are for moose's sir!" Oddly enough, I think the disgusting drink had made me somewhat hyper and perhaps a little loopy. Giving up on him giving me a straight answer I sighed. "Fine. Now it's your turn. Choose someone." Not wasting time, he looked to Fishy.

"Hn… truth or dare?" The fish man stroked his invisible beard for a moment (something I think he picked up from me, unless he already did that).

"Truth." _Geez these guys are seriously boring! Their personalities, their emotions, everything! So predictable! The only thing cool about them so far is how they look and how some of them are still breathing! Must know more!_

"Okay! Can you breathe underwater?" I interrupted Izaya's question with one of my own out of impatience. He didn't seem too bothered. Fishy blinked before laughing.

"Yeah. I even have shark summons."

"Wow really! Awesome! You have to show me sometime!" I then noticed that I had unknowingly leaned forward in excitement, so I corrected my position back to normal. "Okay now it's your turn Aquaman!" He looked at me questionably but shrugged.

"Okay… Kakuzu, truth or dare?" _Who's that?_ I looked around to see Prolay with a thinking expression (his eyes at least), his mask back on his face.

"I don't see the benefit in either." Irritated I slapped a hand to the carpet.

"Choose truth! Otherwise you'll have to do something unpleasant! That is your benefit!" He looked to me and said nothing so I continued, "Okay! How come you're the only one who deals with Marshhead over there?"

"That's not my name, bitch!" _I really just wanna backhand his face right now, but he'd probably kill me… ugh. I need a punching bag._

"That's not my name either! So when you decide to call me by my real name, maybe I'll bother trying to remember your real name! That goes for the rest of you as well!" He huffed and before he could retort, Prolay beat him to it.

"It's because I was partnered with this idiot."

"You have partners? How come?" He shrugged.

"Precautions. Otherwise I'd be fine without him… though I'm not sure if I could say the same for him…" They started arguing again, so Vash decided to take the opportunity and ask questions of her own. _ Somehow this has just turned into a question answer session. I guess even though it lacks awesomeness, it works._

"So… how did you guys all get so weird? Like PlantGuy and SharkFace." She looked between the two. Fishy frowned.

"Not everyone is normal in the ninja world. Most ninjas have their own special traits."

"That doesn't explain it." He sighed and scratched his head.

"I sold my body to science. That's probably all you would understand out of the full explanation." She frowned but stayed quiet, not seeming completely satisfied with the answer. I took this as my turn to ask a question, so I glanced at Foofy who was talking quietly with Spirit.

"Can I touch your hair?" He looked at me with a bewildered expression.

"Uh… why do you want to touch my hair, yeah?" I just kept looking at his long locks.

"It looks so fluffy and soft! How do you keep your hair so long without it getting nappy and gross from being a ninja all the time and keeping it down? I'm going to touch it anyway, okay?" And so I did, and it was so smooth! _I wish my hair was this nice… it reminds me of his kitty fur. Aww… I miss having kitties. _"Ooooh! You have to let me play with it sometime! I like playing with hair, when it's nice to touch at least… and not icky. "

"Okay… un. But just so you know, I haven't washed it for a few days. Since the last time you washed us as kittens, yeah." His statement dawned on me. _Shoot! I totally forgot about bathroom time! And we only have one! How will that work? I guess we'll have to figure it out when that obstacle comes to us._

"How did you all learn your ninja powers?" Vash asked suddenly pulling me out of my worried state.

"Huh… I've been wondering that too actually. Do you get to choose your powers? Like in RPG games or somethin'? Oh man I'd totally be a shape shifter! And I'd shape shift into… an Argentinosaurus! And squish everyone!" Spirit gave me an odd look.

"What is that? Some sort of made up creation of yours?" I gasped and put my hands on either side of my cheeks. _Holy crap! I totally forgot that they probably don't even know about dinosaurs! I bet they don't even have them in their world! That would be terrible!_

"It's decided. We have to watch a dinosaur movie after this. You guys are missing out. And it isn't made up Mister Smarty-Pants. They were alive a looooong time ago. Come to think of it, I actually have a book that you guys can take turns looking at sometime. It has a little history of most things on this planet."

"Anyway! So what about your powers?" Vash asked again impatiently. This time Prolay answered, probably getting bored sitting there doing nothing.

"Depending on the lineage, or clan, a ninja comes from, they can inherit different abilities from their bloodlines. Each clan is different. You can't just choose your "powers"," he explained evenly. I nodded in understanding, and then started thinking about dinosaur movies to watch. Some of the other members began chatting in hushed voices while Vash continued to converse with the rest who were still paying attention.

**Vash's POV**

"So if you're all a part of an evil organization, what exactly are you guys fighting for? And who are you fighting against, if any?" This time Bastard answered, intertwining his fingers and resting them on his lap.

"We fight simply for peace and anyone who stands in our way is the enemy." _Well… that doesn't sound too evil. Maybe I'll have to look it up later to see if there is anything else he isn't telling me._

"Alright. Why did you decide to make an organization to fight for peace? Are there a lot of wars or something?" He eyed me carefully before Konan spoke up.

"There are a lot of reasons we fight for peace." Bastard nodded his head.

"Yes… though none are your business. And if I catch you looking up information about us on your devices, I will kill you." I frowned and folded my arms.

"Fine."

"Vash! We need to make some popcorn! It's movie time!" I looked over to Nicky, who for some reason had randomly migrated to the couch while I was talking to Bastard. She sat between PlantGuy and Redhead, with Tobi squished beside him (since the couch is really made for three people to fit comfortably), drinking the last of the natto drinks. _At least someone likes them. I have no doubt that Nana will end up sending us more…_

"Grab some more chairs and I'll start on some popcorn," I stood up and smoothed out the wrinkles in my jeans. "What movie are we watching?" She was hopping about as she grabbed the chairs in the kitchen.

"Godzilla 1998! Bwaaaaaah! Because they don't know what dinosaurs look like, and I can't think of a super action-y documentary to show that, and Jurassic Park is inaccurate anehways so… might as well watch awesome Godzilla destroying stuff!" I facepalmed after starting up the popcorn. _That movie huh? It's awful… sigh. Next time I'm choosing._

**Nicky's POV**

"Okay everyone, grab a seat! I'm putting on an action movie!" I sat two chairs on either side of the couch and moved the computer chair closer to the circle. That way only three people had to sit on the floor. Pein was about to sit on the couch where I had previously been, before I dived forward and landed ungracefully in the spot in a ball-like position. He narrowed his eyes and me and I just waved and gave him a cheesy smile. _Haha! That's what you get for trying to take my seat! _"Maybe I would have given you my seat, if you would have asked nicely beforehand! But now it's too late! So find another place." He looked like he was about to retort, but Konan saved me.

"Pein, this spinning chair is more comfortable than the rest and taller too." Even though he didn't show it, I could almost sense the disappointment emitting from him. _Or maybe I'm just imagining it and wishing that's what he was doing so I could laugh at him. Laugh I say!_

He sat beside Konan, who sat on one of the kitchen chairs. Izaya took one of the chairs on the other side of the couch, near Tobi, as well as Prolay. Marshy sat on the floor, leaning against the armrest of the couch while eating one of the bowls of popcorn Vash brought over. _He's unusually quiet. Maybe he's cranky 'cause he's hungry. _Meanwhile, Fishy was lying on the ground with his head propped up by a pillow and Foofy was still standing trying to get Tobi to move, who was refusing. I sighed and turned to the fluffball.

"Hey Foof face. Come sit in front of me so I can play with your hair. Tobi got there first." He grumbled before yelling at me.

"Hell no, I want to sit on the couch, yeah!" If I was in an anime, this would be the point in time where I'd get an angry tick mark on my forehead.

"Stop being such a child and sit down already. You can sit there next time, okay?"

"Yeah brat, sit down and shut up," Spirit agreed, "I want to get this started already."_He's like a crabby old man. A crabby, short old man with a young man face. Come to think of it, I think he's shorter than me. I smell opportunity! _Disregarding my better judgment, I glanced to Spirit beside me and kept my face confused, as if I was genuinely curious. _Though I'm completely devious bwahahaha! _

"Spirit, why you be so short?" In a robotic fashion (which describes the personalities of half the people in the room), he peered over at me, with his still nonexistent facial expressions.

"What did you say, brat?" I almost started laughing but, Vash cleared her throat to get our attention and handed me a bowl of popcorn before literally kicking Tobi off the couch to steal his seat. Tobi whimpered and crawled next to Foofy, who had finally decided to sit in front of me. After stuffing a good sized thing of popcorn in my mouth, I turned on the TV and PS3 to start Netflix.

"Why the fuck do we have to watch this shit movie?" Hidan asked loudly. I shushed him and started the film.

"Just watch it. I bet this guy could kill you any day." He scoffed.

"Fuck that. He couldn't lay a fucking finger on me." I shrugged and passed the popcorn to Vash, since both Cal and Spirit don't eat popcorn, and resumed playing with Foofy's hair. Foofy groaned audibly but didn't say anything and let me continue.

"We'll see…"

"You two will be searching all day tomorrow for a portal. I will make sure of it," Pein said sharply from his spot. I just ignored him and so did Vash. _I never thought I'd be sitting in my living room hanging out with a bunch of unimaginably bizarre ninja. Maybe with the help of Vash and me, we can get them to loosen up a bit and have a good time. It's not like they're going anywhere anytime soon. And that way it'll be a more enjoyable experience for us too. Eventually, I hope they'll be comfortable enough to relax more around us. It'd be interesting to see what that's like, even though they probably are more relaxed than they would be if they had just barely appeared. _Then I realized something.

_Who's going to watch them when we both go to work tomorrow?_

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><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>So I'm not really sure what the drinks are actually called, but I know there is such a thing. They have them at an Asian grocery store in town. One day I'll visit it… but I'll never try it. Bleck.

**Vash: **Things never seem to go as planned in these chapters, do they?

**Nicky: **Hardly ever!


	11. Stupid Stalkers

**Foosha: **Hooray! Early update! I'm going to visit Vash this weekend so I figured I'd get this done now. :D The next one won't be done until, not this Sunday, but the following one. Hopefully. I have a paper to write. :/ Anehways I was way motivated to write this chapter because of how awesome all you guys are for reading this! I really appreciate those who alerted the story and of course to my faithful reviewers of awesomeness; Chillybean, riptocs, Yuti-Chan, DeeaE and anyone else who would have otherwise reviewed had this been a regularly scheduled update! I love all of you out there 8D

**Nicky: **This chapter is exciting.

**Vash: **Almost too much. Foosha doesn't own Francesca. She owns herself. Foosha also doesn't own Naruto, Chowder, or any other references she forgot to have me mention.

**Nicky: **Like that SpongeBob one!

**Vash: **Right. Like that one.

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><p>The next morning I woke up with a start. My eyes wildly searched the room, and then I remembered where I was.<p>

"Wow. One second I'm on the back of a killer whale in the Arctic Ocean, and the next I'm in bed. Why are my dreams so weird?"

"Because you're weird." Confused, I peeked over the side of my bed, hair flopping lazily on either side of my face, to see Cal lying awkwardly on the ground in a mass of blankets. Thanks to their stealthy ninjaness, they succeeded in bringing back several more comfortable bedding materials and towels for bathroom use, which we did get figured out. Six of us would use it at night and the other six use it in the morning. I'm more of a night person myself. Back to my confusion.

"Oh… I forgot some of you slept in here last night. How long have ya been awake?" He shrugged a bit, sitting up to a more comfortable position.

"**Too long, I'm starving. Where's the raw meat?" **I scowled at his remark and stood up next to my bed, careful to avoid the sleeping Foofy on the floor beside my feet.

"You could say please you know. Besides, you're a big boy. Go get it yourself," I retorted, making my bed so it would once again be organized, stuffed animals and all. _I don't wanna baby these guys too much. Otherwise we'll end up being their maids. And that's not gonna happen._ During my pondering, he stood up in his spot, stepping on his messed blankets while watching me finish arranging my pillows. A devilish smirk made its way onto his face.

"I remember hearing something about your organizational issues in your journal.** What would happen if I moved one of these like this?" **He grabbed my newly stitched T-rex, (whom I still have to thank Prolay for), and moved it forward in such a way, that it wasn't properly aligned with anything else on my bed, making it stand out obnoxiously. Frowning, I pushed the creature back in its rightful spot, before Cal moved it again, but instead of moving it forward, he turned it slightly askew. My eye twitched.

"Are you serious right now, Cal? You're going to try this with me? I'll kick you in the shin, I swear I will. Both of them for that matter since there are two of you! Twice the shin kicking!" He raised an eyebrow and then was overcome with a devious expression and a hungry smirk.

"**If you don't get me food I'll just have to settle for you.** Sorry but I'm hungry." My eyes widened.

"Are you a cannibal? Like for reals?" He nodded and that's all the confirmation I needed before I scampered out of the room. _I wonder if he made me get him food because he's afraid of the wrath of early morning Vash… but he probably doesn't know about that… so he's probably just lazy. Buuuuut… I don't wanna be eaten so I guess I'll get it. If I do die though, from him or Vash, I hope someone will bury my stuffed animals with me, at least! _

I carefully pushed open the door to the living room to see it was still dark. Glancing at the clock on the wall I noted it was only eight in the morning. _Why the heck am I up this early?_ I tip-toed past Marshmallow and Izaya to get to where I could pass by the fold-out bed, when I noticed that, once again, Vash was on the floor. _Oooh… this will be fun. _Sidling around the couch, I made it to the kitchen and opened the fridge to retrieve the beef shank. My mouth watered a little. _Thank goodness he steals this stuff… I could never afford it. Doesn't mean I don't want it though… _I closed the refrigerator door and had to hold in a yelp of surprise when I saw Spirit standing there, in all his pajama-y glory. _Aww… he's really cute with bed head. Wait never mind. I think his hair is always like that. Isn't it?_

"What are you doing up so early?" I blinked at him and casually waved the giant cow thigh.

"Cal is hungry and he's threatening to eat me so I had to get food," I whispered back. Just realizing how cold the tile was I started hopping back and forth on the balls of my feet. "Now I gotta get back before he ruins anything else and my feet are cold. Why are you up anyway?" He gave me that look of his that said "pfft like you would understand". _Urgh… must not judge quickly. Stupid arrogance!_

"I'm a puppet, like I said before. I don't sleep. I have no need for human functions. They only get in the way." I cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.

"You mean that? Your life must be incredibly boring then. All you do is fight and do puppet-y stuff? What kind of a life is that?" Sighing, I stopped my little cold dance and gave him an apologetic smile and scratched the back of my head with my free hand. "Er… sorry. It just seems… suckish, ya know? I mean, there's so much out there, why would you just dedicate your life to something as pointless as fighting? Anyways, I gotta get back. So… continue doing whatever you were doing… I guess." I gave a small wave and practically ran back into the room, closing the door softly behind me. "Awkward… stupid Nicky disease! Saying inappropriate things like that! Sheesh."

"Get me the food?" My heart leapt in surprise and I spun around to be met with Cal. Before I could react to his sudden appearance, he grabbed the meat from my hand and started chewing on it. I cringed in disgust.

"What are you, some sort of carnivorous alien plant creature?" He ignored my question and continued eating. A muffled crash erupted from the living room followed by an angry yell.

"TOBI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN _MY _BED?"

"And so it begins…"

**After an awkward breakfast and beating up of Tobi…**

I sat down on the left side of Izaya and laid my head against the armrest. _Sleepy sleepy sleepy…_ But just before I could be whisked away into the land of dreams, Vash jabbed my forehead.

"Owie… whyyyyy?" I whined. I wasn't really a morning person either, though instead of resorting to violence, I just complained a lot. _Ah the flaws of my personality. Too bad I'm too tired to care! Bahahaha…_

"We need to get this figured out. I have to leave for work now and you still have a few minutes. But what are they going to do when we're both gone? We don't get back 'til around seven," she explained sternly. When I didn't comment, she looked over to Pein and continued, "Stay the hell inside this house until we get back, _understood_?" The last part sounded like she was mocking him so I giggled lightly, though it stopped when my eyelids started to droop. _Grr too tired to function. _I lazily waved her away with my arm.

"Fine fine. I'll make sure they stay so… go to work already lady. You'll be late ya know!" She rolled her eyes at me and said a reluctant "goodbye" before leaving. "So… whaddya guys wanna do?" My eyes lazily swept the room to see some of the members now dressed, just standing around boredly. Izaya tapped my shoulder, his red eyes meeting mine when I turned. _Forgot to ask him about _that_. They're pretty._

"Hn… can I see that book?" I looked at him blankly until the wires connected in my brain, reminding me of the book I told them about yesterday. My eyes lit up slightly.

"Oh… yeah! I remember that. Uh… 'kay. Let me make myself stand up first," I mumbled, pushing myself off the couch and into a heap on the floor. _Wow. I'm more tired than I thought._ There was a tug on the back of my pajama shirt and I was soon up and on my feet. "Thanks… someone." With one object in mind, I stumbled forward and grabbed onto the wall for support when I got to the bookcase. Scanning the books, I found the appropriate one; "A Short History of Nearly Everything". _How lucky of me to have this book. Hopefully they understand it. _I snatched it up and brought it to Izaya, placing it in his extended palms. "Here ya go Izzy. Now you guys don't get into trouble while I get ready for work. Just watch TV or somethin'. Just don't let it be a dinosaur thing. I don't want Tobi reenacting it like last night." It was cute to a point, until he started destroying our dishware.

I counted to make sure everyone was in the living room. I didn't want a repeat of destroyed stuffed animals either. _Speaking of that… _"Hey Prolay!" He looked up to me from the random newspaper he was looking at. _Where'd he get that?_ "Thanks for fixing my stuffed animals back together. I owe ya." Without a word, he nodded to me and went back to reading. _Well I did say thank-you. Now it's showa' time!_

**Criminal POV**

"Those girls didn't keep their word about looking for the portal. They knew they would have to work today. Therefore we are going to look for it ourselves once she leaves. And I still don't trust them enough to not look up more information about us while they're out," Pein mused aloud while he paced back and forth. The rest of the members listened quietly. He stopped and glanced at the group. "Itachi, Kisame and… Tobi. I want you to follow the blonde one to work. Deidara, Sasori and Zetsu, you find the small one. We have her location in that journal, so find it quickly and make sure they don't break their other promise. The rest of you stay here with me and look for that damn portal."

The others nodded before resuming their activities of lazing around. Before long, Nicky exited the bathroom in a completely different wardrobe. She wore a short sleeved white collared shirt (sleeves folded neatly), underneath a red sweater vest, finished with a knee length black skirt, white stockings and red flats. Tobi went bounding up to her, inspecting her closely.

"Tobi thinks Nicky-chan looks cute! Is Nicky-chan wearing make-up too?" Nicky's eyebrow twitched forming an annoyed expression, something unusual for being around Tobi surprisingly, and pushed past him to grab her bag.

"So I don't look cute regularly, hm?" Tobi and a few others froze, picking up on the agitated vibe emitting from her body, and scooting away. She abruptly turned around, slinging her bag onto her shoulder, a light blush on her cheeks, though mostly unnoticed with the large frown on her face.

"You're not ugly, un. You're just plain looking, yeah," Deidara added nonchalantly, from his spot sitting on the couch, legs crossed. Nicky muttered something under her breathe before leaving, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Tobi thinks Deidara-sempai said something mean to the girly. Tobi wonders what Vash will do…," Tobi sing-songed as he danced around the room. The accused sat up instantly, slamming his fists onto the couch cushions.

"I just told her the truth, hm! Nothing wrong with that, yeah."

"You're all dismissed. Make sure you are not seen and report back before they return. Now go," Pein ordered sharply, waving his arm in a sweeping motion. Instantly, the six followers left in a cloud of smoke, while the remaining began looking for the portal. "Look behind, underneath, and between anything that looks suspicious. Konan and I will look outside. You two make sure not to leave evidence of tampering." Kakuzu nodded as Konan and Pein disappeared.

"Fuck let's find this shitty fucking portal already. I need to make fucking sacrifices," Hidan growled crossly, roughly moving the large couch away from its spot in one swift motion. His partner was in a similar mood while he looked around the bookcase and computer area.

"I'm missing so many bounties… and there's no use for the money here. We have to find it."

**With Nicky's Stalkers**

Once outside, the trio swiftly moved past the neighboring houses towards the direction they watched Nicky's car drive away in, careful to stay in the shadows. Even though they were in regular clothes, it would still be quite suspicious to see normal people moving at such a quick speed, especially when one of which refuses to remove his mask and the other has blue skin.

"Are you sure you shouldn't take off your mask? When we stop people will start wondering," Kisame suggested while they stayed behind some trees near a stoplight. Tobi shook his head fiercely.

"No! Tobi likes his mask! And you have blue skin!" Kisame just shrugged him off and continued to wait. Itachi remained quiet, as usual, until the light turned green, and they once again took off. Though unbeknownst to them, a little someone was, slowly but surely, tagging along behind them.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore… so what are you up to?"

**Nicky's POV**

_Ah work. Something I never wanted to do, but something that has to be done so I can have food and nice smelling soaps. Time to get busy. I hope they don't mess up the house too bad… _After clocking in, and saying "hello" to a few of my coworkers, I grabbed the stack of books that needed to be shelved and went to work. Working at a bookstore wasn't so bad compared to other jobs and was relatively easy. I haven't read as many books as most have here, but I'm very good at being organized and keeping things looking presentable. And that's all I have to do really, that or help customers find books since I know where they all are. A simple job, just tedious, and being lazy doesn't help much either.

"The best time to wear a striped sweaterrrr is all the tiiiiiiime, one with a collar, turtleneck! That's the kiiiiiiind! 'Cause when you're weariiiing that one special sweaterrrrr…." I sung to myself a song from SpongeBob while I sat on the floor, filing the books back in order. _I wish I was playing Animal Crossing right now. I've neglected it since the kitties turned into badies and I bet I have a ton of weeds! Ughh... I hate the weeds! And I missed the fishing tourney! Grrr…. Trouble-making evil villain babies. I hate them all. _"They better not break anything of mine… or _I'll_ be making their dinner. Hehehe…"

**Meanwhile…**

"Well… now what? We can't keep standing here, people are staring," Kisame mumbled to the other two while he watched the onlookers gaze at them in awe.

"Hn… let's go. Hide yourselves," Itachi muttered and took off to the bookstore's café, calmly sitting at a table with a newspaper hiding his face. And just like that he appeared normal. Kisame looked around for a hiding spot that would work for his height when he spotted Nicky.

"Hey there she is. We should get closer, but make sure to stay…" he looked around to realize he was talking to himself. "Shit! Where did he go?"

Back at Itachi's table, the dark haired male watched as Tobi snuck away to a farther part in the store. Kisame just noticing he was alone discretely left to look for the childish member. Itachi inwardly sighed.

"I finally found you. You guys run too fast." Confused, he moved his newspaper from his face to see an exhausted looking Rin, her hands on her knees and her breaths coming out in short gasps, pigtails swinging limply. "I'm lucky my parents told me where Nicky worked, otherwise I never would have found you."

Itachi raised an eyebrow in question when he realized that's who he'd heard following them earlier, which is how she knew they were following Nicky to work. In the ninja world, he might have been more concerned if someone was following them, but here there was no need. They were already far stronger than any "normal" human being here.

"I've decided even though you're a bad guy, you're still my Izaya, so from now on I'm not leaving your side." And to prove her point she sat directly on the floor, legs and arms crossed in determination. "I'm gonna make you a good guy, so I'll watch and make sure you don't do anything bad. Okay?"She looked to him for confirmation, but he remained neutral, so she continued. "Now why are you stalking Nicky?"

"Orders…" She stood up and placed her hands on her small hips.

"Well I order you not to. That's creepy and weird! You don't want to be a pedophile do you?" Itachi watched her, wondering why such a young girl even understood such words, but then again it made sense because she was an only child and was only ever around adults.

"…she's twenty." Rin stared in surprise.

"Really? Mom said she was fifteen..."

"WAHHH TOBI IS A GOOD BOYYYYY!" Immediately Itachi stood up and looked to Rin.

"Come on…" The small girl followed behind him wordlessly as they made their way through the maze of books.

**Nicky's POV (somewhat earlier)**

So one minute I'm re-alphabetizing the children's section, and the next I hear someone giggling loudly behind a smaller shelf. Thinking it was a child playing hide-and-seek, I decided to be mean and expose him to whoever the seeker was. I quietly tiptoed over to the shelf, and just when I was about to peek over, two heads popped out, neither of which belonged to a child. I blinked once, and just gazed stupidly. _Wha…?_ Fishy chuckled nervously, getting to his feet with Tobi by his side giggling like a crazy person. _And I thought I had inappropriate laughter…_ I turned to the saner of the two, trying to glare, but only felt my expression become more incredulous.

"What are you guys doing out in public?" I hissed, suddenly recognizing the situation we were in. A tall blue, shark-looking man and a guy in a mask and _my _Chowder shirt. "Wait, why are you in my shirt?" Tobi just laughed some more, before skipping away to look at children's books. Fishy sighed a put a hand to his forehead.

"We were supposed to spy on you and make sure you didn't look up any information on us. And Leader is mad that you guys didn't look for the portal so… expect to be scolded." I slumped over and puffed out my cheeks. _Great just great. Good job memory! Letting me forget something that important. Maybe next time you'll remember these things!_

"Excuse me, miss?" I heard someone call from behind the bookcase to my right. Not thinking, I shoved Fishy back behind his small hiding spot and turned to face the customer, with a strained smile on my face.

"Oh yes? How can I help you?" The older man nodded to her and held out a piece of paper with some writing scrawled on it.

"Can you help me find this book? My daughter has wanted it for a while and it's her birthday tomorrow." I took the list from his hands and read it. _Twilight? Really? Still? _

"All right sir, let me just look it up on one of our computers and see if we have any copies. One moment please." I walked over to one of the computers behind the children's section counter and looked up Twilight to see that we had just sold out and were due for a shipment next week. "Okay looks like we just sold out, but we should get another shipment next week sometime if that's okay."

"But I need it for tomorrow! It's her birthday!"

"Yes, I know I'm sorry but, I could check another store for you if-"

"No! I'm here and I want to be treated like a customer! I need this book right now! Have someone send it from another store and I'll wait."

"Well… that's not how it works exactly. I can get a manager to talk to you if you'd like."

"Oh yes that's exactly what I need! So I can complain about the incompetence of his workers! Get me a manager now!"

Before I could break down in front of the whole store, I watched the manager walk up to us. He looked to the angry parent and then to me.

"Is there something wrong here, sir?"

"Yes there is! Your employee says that this book won't be in until next week but I need it by tomorrow!"

"I'll see what I can do." The manager walked over to the same computer I had been using and looked up some information. _Ugh I hate unreasonable people. And I hate how the managers just deal with them! They need to tell them off! Hey wait… is that…?_

"WAHHH TOBI IS A GOOD BOYYYYY!" And there in front of me was Tobi, being carried by a random security guard. _I think that guy is from the store next door… _He had Tobi by the collar of my shirt, stretching out the fabric. _Nooo I love that shirt!_

"I found this suspicious looking guy trying to hide some books under his shirt. Thought I should let you know," the security man said gruffly, dropping Tobi onto his backside. _Stupid Tobi! Now you'll get in trouble! _My manager glared at him.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave sir. I'll let you off this time so leave now or you'll face more serious charges. And take off that mask so we can see your face." _Think think Nicky! Use your word vomit to your advantage! It's not lying, just telling a story about someone else that's unrelated! _I sauntered over to stand in front of Tobi and looked at the manager, trying not to look guilty.

"Excuse me sir, but he's actually mentally handicapped. He still thinks he's five. He's my neighbor's cousin's half-uncle and I guess he got out. Would it be okay if I took him home? My neighbor's never answer their phone." As I explained, I helped Tobi up to his feet. The manager looked in deep thought for a moment, before nodding.

"Please take care of that, I'll help this gentleman here find his book." I nodded a thank-you to him and skittered away with Tobi in tow. On my way to the door I saw Fishy looking through some magazines so I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and dragged them both outside and around the corner of the building so we were alone. Then I exploded.

"What were you guys thinking! Going into public! What a stupid idea! Are we missing anyone else?" There was a cough behind me and I turned around to see Izaya with… "Rin? What are you doing here?" She latched onto Izaya's sleeve, still looking at me.

"I'm helping him become good."

"Okayy… well let's get you guys home. I've had enough excitement for the day. At least you got me out of work." I stalked off to my car with the rest of the group following close behind. _And I can pull my weeds now…_

**More Meanwhile…**

"Are you sure we're going to right way, yeah? It's so dark underground, hm."

"Of course I'm sure, **even though there's no chakra to sense, I can at least tell simple directions.**"

"This is taking too long…"

The trio stopped arguing for a moment when they finally emerged from the ground, after quite a bit of difficulty, into a brightly lit room with tiled walls and floors, and a large amount of sinks and stalls. Deidara was the first to speak.

"Where the hell are we, un?"

"You're in the girl's bathroom you idiots! What the hell are you doing here?"

The three turned their heads to see a fuming Vash standing near the entrance. Zetsu turned to the group.

"See, I told you I knew where we were going. **Damn idiots for doubting me."**

"You're all stupid! Get out of here now! I don't care why you're here right now. All I want is you to go home before someone sees you!"

"No. We were ordered to stay and make sure you don't look up additional information on us," Sasori added firmly. Vash was about to retort when the bathroom door swung open, revealing a young girl with long, curly deep brown hair and glasses. She looked up from the floor to Vash and then to the men. Her face turned deep red. She aimed her brown eyes to Vash, avoiding looking at the guys, and played with the hem of her purple scrubs.

"Um… why are there guys in the bathroom, Vash?" Vash was frozen, but she eventually found her voice.

"Well… it's an interesting story…" There was a weight on Vash's left shoulder and she tilted her head to see Deidara's hand on her.

"Sorry, but we have to get going. Vash has an important appointment to get to." Vash shrugged off his hand and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a squeal. Confused, she glanced at the girl, whose name she forgot, to see her swooning over Deidara.

"Oh wow! Aren't you cute! I'm Francesca, what's your name?" Deidara was taken aback and didn't know what to say while Vash just stood confused to why any girl would like a guy who looks more like a lady. At this time Zetsu decided to push his way through the group, nearly giving the poor girl a heart attack.

"Ahhh! What is that?"Thinking fast, Vash said the only thing she could think of.

"It's that zombie plant disease they were talking about in class today! Hurry! Go get the head teacher guy!" The girl nodded her head and bolted. Vash sighed, happy that the girl didn't question why she stayed or exploit the fact that they never discussed such a disease. Vash whirled around to see the guys looking bored. "Well you already ruined my day. I have no choice but to leave now, so use your ninja powers and get us out of here."

"Very well. **At least say please." **The group huddled back together, pulling Vash with them as they sunk back into the ground.

**Nicky's POV At Home**

After I finally got home, and finished dropping off Rin (who promised to come over tomorrow), I found out Vash also got "kidnapped" and brought back home. For an hour we were lectured by Orangey (who was in a bad mood from not finding a single clue about the portal), and eventually we had to promise (again) that when we weren't working, we'd help them look for the portal, or else we'd be killed. Once he finished his ranting, he allowed us to scold the rest of the members for getting caught (or in our case, for following us in the first place, and in my case for Tobi ruining my shirt), which was followed by a quiet but comfortable dinner. _Probably because everyone got out their anger. Even Hidan was calmer than usual, though I think that's because he found a dog that was dying and decided to put it out of its misery and use it as a sacrifice. What a weirdo. Creeps me out. _

"Hey Nicky." I glimpsed at Vash who sat next to me in her pajamas on the couch. We turned on the movie Princess Mononoke and some of the guys actually got into it. I think even Konan liked it and she rarely seemed interested in anything. Curling up under my blanket I nodded my head to her to say I was listening. "Is it weird that I'm starting to get used to these strangers in our home? I don't know if that's a good thing." I shrugged and turned my head back to the screen. Some of the members were asleep, while the rest were either watching or doing their own thing. Izaya had been reading that book I gave him the whole time I'd been home. _I'll have to ask him what he thinks later._

"I dunno, but I do like being relaxed like I am now. Even though I'll have to talk to my manager about this later, at least it seemed like a valid excuse, so I'm not too worried. And… I kinda like the company. Not that I don't enjoy yours! It's just… you know… nice I guess." A ghost of a smile made its way to her lips.

"Yeah. I think I know what you mean."

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>I seriously have that book! My dad gave it to me but… I'm wayyyyy too lazy to read it. And I own a Chowder shirt. :D Yayyy Chowder! And also, what's up with all the random newspaper? I dunno. Just because I guess.


	12. Geese Are Evil

**Foosha: **Sorry it's a little late guys! I ended up having to work yesterday and I didn't realize that this chapter would be so long o.o But it was so.. awesome! So thanks for all the alerts and thank-you Miko Hayashi, DeeaE, Hex Aether, Chillybean, Kyoki no Megami, and Killergirl101 for the reviews! You're amazing :D

**Nicky: **Foosha doesn't own any references from Naruto or other shows, and she certainly doesn't own Francesca either!

**Vash: **These guys are too much trouble.

**Foosha: **I drew pictures of them with their outfits on deviantart if you're interested!

* * *

><p>The rest of the week went by at a dreadfully slow pace, filled with problems beyond belief. When Vash and I were too busy (or just too lazy) to help the Akatsuki search for the portal, they took it upon themselves to look. And this was our first terrible decision of many; to trust them enough to be adults and not do something stupid. Here's a recap:<p>

Saturday consisted of an amassment of missing pets, particularly in our neighborhood. When I walked out to get the mail that day, I noticed the abnormal amount of missing pet posters stapled to trees leading towards the main road. At first I thought it was kinda weird but ignored it, until I crashed into Calcifer on the way back. And do you know what was hanging from his mouth? A tail! A FREAKIN' TAIL! I don't even know what it belonged to! Of course he immediately slurped it up in order to hide it, but I already caught him red-handed. Acting as any good mother would, I grabbed the black side's ear (because I dislike him more) and tugged him inside while he complained the whole way. Thank god for our immunity. And to top off that day, I found a dead squirrel lying in the grass. Sure that would have been fine and dandy if it had died naturally, but it had an unnatural amount of strange symbols and cuts carved into its body. Who does that! Seriously? Only stupid Marshmallow and his weird religion would. Yeah he told me about it, but I zoned out half way through. Well anyway, he and Cal had to sit in the "kitty-time-out-corner", and go without dinner that night, much to their dismay. Orangey helped us accomplish this, since the two had made such a commotion.

Sunday was relatively easy. Though we did discover that Foofy had a stalker! Well… he still does. And for some reason she knows Vash. I guess they go to Pharmaceutical classes together or somethin'. So she stopped by with a bouquet of flowers just for Foofy. He seemed pretty happy to have an admirer, but she seemed a tad too attached to him. Vash and I still aren't sure how she knew where we lived, either. I hope that situation doesn't get any weirder.

The rest of the week just became more difficult to deal with. Monday was the day that Fishy and Cal were outside looking for the portal and somehow someone saw them. So, of course, they called the police and reported a monster sighting. Not that the police believed them, but that didn't stop the person from going door to door asking if anyone had seen the crudely drawn figures that resembled the shark and plant men. Something similar happened the next day, except this time the police did come and it was over Tobi and Prolay. Apparently there had been a string of missing objects as well as pets (I'm sure they are connected…), and several neighbors described the masked criminals to the police as the robbers responsible (I'm sure Tobi would, but I think Prolay is cooler than that, well at least cool enough not to get caught).

Wednesday Orangey and Lila were also connected to the robberies after an older couple saw them walking around looking like "teen hooligans out for their lawn ornaments". I guess it makes sense though since they both look like punk kids, but they act completely tame (at least from what I've seen so far).

On Thursday, Jen showed me an article in the newspaper about a local "Bigfoot" wandering around. When I looked at it, I recognized Prolay walking by a playground. His size dwarfed the small children that appeared terrified by his presence. So much for him being cool. You can't just walk around in a mask when you're that large and expect to be ignored!

Speaking of not being ignored, on Friday I took Foofy and Spirit with me shopping and we ended up at the register where that one dude works (I think his name is Damon…) (**Foosha:** It is) (Oh, thanks). He recognized me and asked how the cats were doing, to which I replied by placing a spray bottle on the conveyor belt. He didn't ask anything after that, except he did comment on my "pretty friends". Before one of them could beat up the poor kid, I dragged them out of the store, laughing hysterically. Not my fault Foofy has that long flowing hair and Spirit has those big girly eyes. And even though that made my Friday, I was soon overcome with guilt after returning home, when I discovered that Tobi had stolen a ton of video games (in a noticeable manner) and brought them back for me to play. I later was able to convince him to return them… well most of them at least. I've wanted Super Paper Mario for a long time… so I shouldn't waste his generosity.

Izaya was the only person out of the whole group who didn't cause any trouble this week, and that's because he was busy watching Rin at my house since I was forced to babysit the ones who really needed it. Well, now that everyone is caught up, let's continue with our current predicament; figuring out new disguises for the Akatsuki. After all the publicity, they definitely couldn't go outside until we figured out a new way for them to dress. They offered to use their "ninja power stuff" to change how some of the weirder ones (aka Fishy, Prolay, Cal, and Tobi's face) appeared to us, so of course I had to ask.

"Why haven't you told us you could do this before? And why can't you just use it all the time?" Foofy answered with a shrug.

"Never thought about it, and we can't just waste chakra all the time, hm. We might need it to get back and besides it's easier to just steal clothes, yeah. " Some of the others nodded in agreement while Vash and I sighed. _Then what is Orangey's excuse, hm? Argh, now I'm starting to sound like Foofy. _So the two of us spent the morning looking up outfits on the computer that would make them look like American young adults, even though not all of them were actually young, they could always alter their features a bit.

After about an hour, I put together their outfits on so I could give them an idea of the stuff they needed to steal, though they might have already had it in their random clothing piles. Besides the other trouble they got in during the week, the members (mostly Konan) took turns collecting random clothing that they liked. But now they just sit in piles on the ground because we can't really fit them anywhere. _This place has become a pigsty… _

"Okay guys, we got some outfits together for you, so get a good look and go find them! Ready set go!" I said loudly, waving my arms in a large circle ending in the direction of the most stores. Even though most of the guys were used to my weirdness, I'd still get the occasional comment.

"**Weirdo**," Cal mumbled quietly before sinking into the ground while the rest took off in their clouds of disappear-ness. When the smoke cleared Izaya and Foofy were still sitting on the couch lazily. Vash quirked a brow and walked in front of them with her hands on her hips.

"Gotten a bit slow with your age? Or did you just not hear?" Foofy glared at her while standing up, gesturing to a random pile of clothes.

"We already have clothes like that, yeah. And I'm only nineteen, hm." I gawked openly at him and walked over, also noticing that I was slightly taller than him. _Haha! I'm tall! Awesome!_

"Hehe you're just a baby then! Wittle baby Foofy. D'awww," I cooed messing with his hair. He slapped my hand away looking irked.

"I'm only a year younger, yeah! And I'm a year older than shorty here, hm!" Vash promptly dug the heel of her shoe into his toe before leaving the room. _Stupid ninja baby._ He hopped on his uninjured foot and shook his fist at Vash's retreating figure. "Bitch, un! If I had clay I'd kill you, hm!" I cocked my head to the side.

"Oh yeah you said that before. What do you mean?" He proceeded to explain to me in vivid detail about his bloodline trait thingy and how he could use his special hands to make whatever clay figure he wanted and have it explode with a key word he used. He used the phrase "art is a bang, un!" to describe this. Of course I absorbed all this with my childlike wonder. Except for the phrase. That was lame.

"Really! Show me!" He looked taken aback, but reluctantly held out his fists to me, slowly opening them to reveal a little mouth on each palm. I think my brain imploded at that moment, especially when they smiled and opened, showing off their tongues. "Wow! You guys are all like crazy scientific discoveries waiting to be examined! Not that I would do that but… it's just so weird and cool. Like how does that even work? I don't even want to try to think about it! Also wouldn't it be kinda awkward when you wash your hands or hold them together? I mean is it? Or is it just normal? Do they ever kiss each other on accident? Oops, didn't mean to ask that! Hehe…"

Foofy's face went a bit red and without answering any questions, he stormed out the door, slamming it behind him. Vash walked out of the bedroom in a red U-of-U t-shirt and dark jeans, wiping her glasses off on her shirt.

"Where did the immature one go?" I just shrugged to her and resumed the duty of tying my tennis shoes, still thinking about his weird mouth hands. "Well whatever. Let's get our shopping done before they get back. I don't want Tobi whining about not being able to go again. And we don't need another disaster this week." I nodded to her and jumped up, giving her a salute.

"Let's go! Izaya! Hold down the fort!" He looked at me blankly, before resuming watching the television with an almost sleepy look on his face.

**Foofy's POV**

"Stupid bitches, hm." I walked outside to cool off a bit and saw the hammock on the left side of the yard. _Huh. That seems nice. _Somewhat forgetting about what happened, I wandered over to the hanging bed and took a seat before immediately getting tossed over the other side. I sat up with a huff and looked at the hammock. "Harder than it looks, yeah." More carefully this time I tried to even out my body weight so it wouldn't flip to one side, and after a few close calls, the hammock finally settled in a rhythmic swinging motion. _Ah this is nice…_ My eyes closed automatically while a cool breeze blew some of my bangs off my face.

"Bye Foofy! Maybe you should trim your bangs a bit while we're gone!" Cracking my right eye open I saw shorty and blondie waving slightly before walking away. _Finally. It'll be quiet now._

Being in a world with no threat was kinda nice. I didn't have to keep my guard up because we were stronger than anyone here by far. It was kinda like a vacation. Except I needed clay. _Damn. Oh well. We'll get back soon enough. _

Suddenly there was a rustling to my right so I opened my eye again to see my admirer standing there, grinning. When she noticed I was watching she smiled even wider and waved before bounding up to me.

"Hey Deidei! I just came by to say hi! You look really nice today! Heheheh… oh I think you have a bug on your hair! Let me get it!" And before I could even think about what she was doing, she whipped out a white cloth and swiped at some bug on my face before clamping it over my mouth and nose. Then everything went black.

**Itachi's POV**

There was a strange thump sound outside. Suspicious, I stood up from the couch and walked to the backyard to see Deidara being dragged off by that crazy woman. She looked at me for a second and gave an embarrassed smile before dragging Deidara away faster. Before I could stop her I felt a tug on my left hand. My eyes drifted downwards towards Rin, who stood pulling on my arm. My mind had been a little hazy all morning and it was unusual for me to not notice her sneak up. And then my eyes started to droop a bit. _What's wrong with me? _Before they closed completely I saw Rin smirk slightly, and then all was dark.

**Nicky's POV**

When we finally got back from the store, I immediately put the groceries away as fast as I could and started cooking a few of my dinosaur nuggets in the toaster oven. Yes, dinosaur nuggets. I love them. Don't judge me. And of course I was trying to hurry so no one would steal my food. I've noticed since they've been here that none of them can really cook either. So if one of us made snacks, they all helped themselves. _Not today though. These babies are all mine! Mine I say! _Vash grabbed a mint from the mint jar on the counter and walked over to where I was.

"Hey where did the other two go?" Now that she mentioned it, no one else was here.

"Maybe they went to grab some extra stuff for their clothing that they forgot." She shrugged and jumped a bit when a swirl of smoke appeared in the kitchen, revealing the rest of the members with arms full of clothes. From the back of the group I could see Fishy sniffing the air.

"Is that food?" An "eep" sound escaped my mouth and I grabbed the cooling off dinosaur nuggets and stuffed them all in my mouth.

"Mrrroff." _So much for enjoying my lunch today. _Vash took a step in front of me and pointed to the bedroom/bathroom door.

"Okay guys, go get dressed. Konan can stay out here." Ignoring her, the group looked to Orangey who nodded, making them leave to their designated areas. After swallowing the mass of nuggets, with difficulty, I washed my hands (because I don't wanna touch anything with icky hands) and walked up to Konan (I finally remembered her name!) to inspect her dress. And it was perfect! Just like the one we saw! It was a short little strapless summer dress that ended at the mid-thigh with ruffled ends. It was covered in teal, orange and maroon colored flowers and tied together with a thick sparkly belt below the bust line. She looked up from her findings to us with a slightly confused face.

"Can you help me put it on? I'm not sure how it works." I nodded excitedly while Vash just shrugged. We both weren't much of the fashionable types, but that didn't mean that we didn't know what looked cute or not. _I'd love to wear this type of stuff but I could never pull it off like she does. She's got toned muscles and long legs. I'm just… bleh._

After a few minutes, we finally were able to get her into the cute dress. We added the final touches of a colorful ice cream necklace, teal bangle and maroon high heels, and topped off the outfit with the flower she always wore. I couldn't hold in my happiness and clapped my hands excitedly.

"Aww you look so pretty! I love it!" She turned around a bit awkwardly, since she wasn't used to the shoes and tugged a bit at the dress bottom. Even with the lip piercing, she looked like a little doll.

"It's beautiful… I like it," she said quietly, a small smile on her face. Vash nodded in agreement and I gave her a thumbs up.

"Okay. Now we gotta see what the guys look like."

About fifteen minutes later, the guys walked out in their new outfits, looking a bit uncomfortable. Orangey walked to the front of the group showing off his charcoal colored tank top with the word "OBEY" printed neatly in the center in a gold-ish color. He wore tight-fitting black jeans and casual shoes that matched the color of the wording from his shirt. _Seems appropriate. At least he matches now. He's a well-dressed hooligan!_

Cal was next with similar pants and a black t-shirt. He had changed his skin to a light tone, but kept his hair that forest green color, which matched with his green rimmed sunglasses, green belt and green shoes. _Another skater/punk look. Works for his hair I guess. _

Standing behind Cal was Prolay without a mask for once. His stitches had also disappeared and he just looked very tan and slightly younger (since he looked pretty young anyway). He wore looser washed out jeans, a black tank top and some comfy looking black slip-on shoes. The sunglasses we paired with his outfit were on his mop of brunette hair. _Wow...he's pretty._

His less than awesome partner Marshmallow stood beside him with a sneer on his face. It really suited his outfit though. He wore a navy and red baseball cap backwards with the word "OBEY" scrawled on the back, like Orangey's shirt. He had on a tight red t-shirt, and plaid navy, red and white shorts with white flip flops. _He kinda looks like a jock type. _

Spirit was sitting on the couch looking bored with his tan colored fedora hat (with a black strip of fabric around the middle), white V-neck shirt (with a deep red heart on it), black baggy shorts, and black and white tennis shoes. _Kinda reminds me of Jason Mraz… with the hat I guess. _

The once blue-skinned Fishy was now a tan tone, though he did keep his deep blue hair. His strange eyes were covered with aviator glasses (which suited him well) and he wore a dark blue t-shirt and tan cargo shorts, with blue flip flops. _Yep. He's totally made for the beach._

The last outfit somewhat surprised me, even though I knew it was just an illusion type thing, it was weird to see Tobi wearing only large sunglasses and a bunched up scarf to hide his face. He donned a familiar looking shirt of mine (my candy one to be exact) and regular jeans with black converse shoes.

"Girl. Where are Itachi and Deidara?" Directing my attention back to the whole group, I realized that the other two still weren't present. _Wonder what happened to them._ Vash stepped forward voicing a similar idea.

"We thought they might have gone with you since they just disappeared." There was an awkward silence in the room when we all realized they were missing.

"Yeah well… they can take care of themselves, right? They are ninjas after all. But… it has been a rough week. And they didn't even dress in their costumes. What if they get arrested and try to fight back?" The thought made me freak out a bit before Orangey spoke.

"I suppose we'll have to locate them first, but we can also search for the portal at the same time." Vash nodded her head.

"Why don't we split into groups to cover more ground?" And for once Orangey seemed to agree with her. "How about… I take Fishface, Konan, Stitches and the Bitch." Hidan burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! Who's "the Bitch"?" Everyone just looked at him for a moment before it finally sunk in. His cheeks tinted pink. "WHAT THE FUCK I AM NOT A FUCKING BITCH YOU SHORT-ASS WHORE!" And in an instant he was rolling on the floor after receiving a swift kick to the crotch from Vash, whose face had gone slightly red in anger. Orangey coughed to gain everyone's attention.

"Well you deserved that Hidan for not having your guard up. So that means Zetsu, Sasori Tobi and I will be with… the other one." _Ugh. Is it that hard to say our names? Sigh. No respect._ Vash nodded.

"Okay. My group will take the south-west area after the neighborhood while Nicky's will be north-east. Let's get this over with."

**Meanwhile…**

Itachi awoke in an unfamiliar room filled with all sorts of… toys and girly things.

"Finally you're awake. Sorry I had to kidnap you Izaya, but I knew you wouldn't come quietly since you have more important "ninja" things to do."

He looked up to see Rin standing over him, guessing he was on the floor.

"I'm going to show you my toys and then we're having lunch with my parents because that's what a good person would do. I'm going to teach you how to behave."

Itachi sat up and stared at her, mildly surprised that a small girl like her was able to drag him to her home. He stood to leave, but sat down shortly after, feeling slightly dizzy. Rin smiled at his actions.

"Sorry. I knew what mug you used for coffee so I made sure to add a little something to make you sleepy. You can't leave yet. The effects won't wear off for a while. So make yourself at home! But don't steal anything. I know my toys are valuable." He gave her a flat look and sighed quietly, conceding to her childish wishes. What else could he do in his state? And he wouldn't want to traumatize her with any jutsus. He wasn't heartless.

Noticing his quietness, Rin skipped over to one of her many shelves filled with figurines and grabbed one that looked like a cat man, bringing it over to Itachi. "This is the Baron. He's a gentleman, just like you need to be. Now we're going to watch this movie and I want you to do everything he does, okay? Good."

He nodded slowly and watched as she sat up the movie on her large television. The others would be okay without them. And it's not like he couldn't handle himself. He did wonder what they were up to though.

**Vash's POV**

I decided to check out the busier part after our neighborhood, where the shops and food places were. We were trying to avoid anywhere too near our house after all. Who knows who would randomly recognize the ninjas even in their disguises. I'm sure if one of the guys were wandering around that area there would be some sort of fuss with police or something.

"Short bitch, I'm fucking starving. Buy us fast food." I gave Bitch a harsh glare and flipped him off.

"If you want food, _Bitch_, you have to give me money. I don't steal it like you guys. And it'd be difficult to steal fast food unless you took it from someone. We need to keep looking, not eating."

There was a loud growl that erupted form Fishface's stomach. He laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess I'm hungry too. We didn't have breakfast since we had to get new clothes." I gave a heavy sighed and my stomach gave a growl of its own.

"Fine. We'll get some food, but you have to pay me back! Stitches I leave you responsible." He groaned loudly.

"You guys are going to waste all the money I have."

"That you stole."

"So what? I still had to work for it." I looked around for the cheapest place nearby and decided on Del Taco. _Nicky would be jealous._

"All right guys, we're going to Del Taco. Follow me!"

**Nicky's POV**

"So… you think the missing guys are okay? I'm kinda worried about them. I mean… even if they're ninja, who knows what happened." Orangey er… Pein just shrugged at my comment and continued leading our group in the directions I pointed.

"Our first concern is the portal. They can handle themselves. Now keep looking. What's that area over there?" I looked to where he was pointing across the street to a large open park area.

"Oh. That's Sugarhouse Park. Wanna check there?" He nodded and nearly proceeded to walk into the middle of the street had I not grabbed the back of his tank top. I immediately let go and gave him a sheepish grin. "Er sorry I just didn't want you to get run over. Here we use these things to get across the street. Hey Tobi! No stop!"

Ignoring my directions, Tobi had already made it through half a lane before I heard a car honking at him. Instantly I latched onto his arm and pulled him back with a quick jerk, landing him and I on our backsides as the car sped past, honking the whole way. My heart was pounding quickly. _Wow. I never knew I would be the type to help someone in trouble. Shows how attached I've gotten. Stupid. But I can't help it._

"Be more careful guys. You can't use your ninja powers in public or I'm sure the government would be on you like crazy fast." I sighed and stood up along with Tobi, grabbing his hand in the process. "Now follow me and don't go unless I tell you to. Got it?" No one said anything so I assumed they understood. _Thank god Vash took Hidan. I'd die. _Tugging on Tobi's hand I led them, with Pein's permission, to the crosswalk where I pushed the button for the light to change.

"Tobi likes holding girly's hand." I looked up at him to see him bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet while looking around. A smile crept on my face and I laughed a bit.

"You gotta be more careful. You could've been seriously hurt." When the signal came on I motioned for them to follow behind me close. _I hope the other guys are okay._

**Meanwhile… **

"So Izaya, I understand you're Nicky's cousin and have been teaching my daughter piano. How long have you been playing?" Itachi looked up from his plate of expensive looking food (from what he's seen on Food Channel), to Rin's parents who sat at the end of a long oak table. Rin piped up, knowing Itachi was unlikely to answer.

"He's mute momma, I told you that. He's been playing since he was my age."

"Well that's very interesting! Isn't it dear?" Her husband looked up from his plate to nod quickly before going back to his food. The mother smiled once again at Itachi. "I'd love to hear you play. We have a grand piano in the front room."

Itachi's eye twitched unnoticeably before his gaze drifted over to a nervous looking Rin.

"Oh um… he's very self-conscious about his playing, momma. He's just here for a home visit to meet with you." Inwardly Itachi sighed. It would be a long day for him.

**Vash's POV**

"That's quite a bit for such poorly made tacos. It should only be about fifty cents," Stitches reasoned to the cashier. How he came to know this much about money, I'll never know. Maybe Chichi lent him one of Nicky's books. Who knows? All I knew was that he'd been arguing with this guy for the past twenty minutes about prices. There was a line of angry people behind us and to top it off no one could decide what they wanted.

I finally got fed up with his bargaining and pushed him aside, buying twenty tacos and a few burritos. _Stitches is going to pay double what I spend. Maybe even triple._ I grabbed the trays when they were ready and snapped at the loud group to sit down somewhere. They finally found a place at the back corner of the restaurant. I took a seat next to Konan while the boys sat across from us in the slightly longer booth. As soon as we sat down, both the Bitch and Fishface started stuffing their faces, while Konan and I took our time. After about five minutes they finished the plate, only letting the rest of us have one taco apiece.

"Hey short bitch, I'm still fucking hungry. Buy me some more fucking food," Bitch exclaimed loudly, slamming his hand on the table. A few girls in the table behind us giggled and waved at him. I wanted to puke. _That'd be a waste of a good taco though._ Fishface looked longingly at the counter.

"Yeah… I'm still kinda hungry too," he admitted sheepishly. Konan stood from her spot and I moved to let her pass.

"I'll get more food. I've collected some money of my own. You still have to pay me though, Kakuzu." Stitches just mumbled something into the hand that held up his face while Konan walked away to the counter where a couple of other guys stood. As soon as she walked up, they started talking to her, though it seemed more like flirting. I facepalmed. _It's already turning out to be a hassle with these guys. _ Suddenly there was a loud crash, with glass breaking. I turned my head to see Konan toss a second guy into a wall across the room.

"What the hell bitch? We aren't supposed to fucking fight or I could've killed these bitches and made my own fucking food!" The Bitch yelled across the room, nearly flipping the table over. Stitches shook his head and Fishface tried to calm him down. Konan walked back over to us looking neutral.

"They said we're not allowed to come back here again, we've been kicked out." I groaned out loud and stalked out of the building, the other ninja following behind me. Turning around I glared at all of them.

"You're lucky you knocked them unconscious, otherwise they could sue you or something, Konan. I can't take you guys anywhere! Well mostly the Bitch, you two are okay." The Bitch sputtered and started yelling curse words at me, but he was soon quieted down by Stitches. "Shut up. All of you. We don't want to have police suspicious."

"Hello kids. Seen any suspicious characters around?" I whipped around in surprise to see a policeman standing behind me with an obviously fake smile. "Actually could you hang on a second? I need to check the radio in my car, but I need to ask you some questions." _Shit. He's going to check their database or something for their pictures. That's how it happens in cop shows! Then we'll be arrested! And I will too for being with them! _There was a strong yank on my arm and suddenly I was being dragged behind the rest of the group who were running away from the cop. I heard his sirens switch on and prayed that we wouldn't get caught. We darted into an alley and in a poof they were all back to their normal selves. _Well, normal for them._ I was lifted into someone's arms and then they were running again except extremely fast. _Please don't get caught, please don't get caught. This is too much like one of the scenes from that stupid Twilight book! They'd better not drop me or someone will die._

**Nicky's POV**

Once we made it to the park in one piece, we started walking around, taking our search between the trees and around the playground areas. Getting bored, I started looking around for a distraction and soon found one in watching the different kites floating around. I'd always wanted a kite, but I never remembered to get them when I went to the store. _I want a Chinese Dragon one. That'd be awesome. _

"Hey! Nicky-chan! Let's have a picnic!" I looked away from the kites to see Tobi holding up a random picnic basket and blanket.

"Uh… Tobi where did you get those from?" I could just imagine a random family somewhere about to sit down to a picnic noticing that all of their stuff is gone. He just shrugged.

"Tobi doesn't remember. Let's go!" Pein and the rest of the group walked over to us to see what we were doing standing around.

"I didn't say to stop." I scratched my cheek and looked around for an excuse.

"Well… I saw these kites and I wanted to watch them because they are really neat, and then I started to get hungry and Tobi brought over a picnic basket so… we were gonna eat it." Pein looked from me to Tobi to the basket and sighed.

"I'm hungry too. Let's take a break and eat." I laughed to myself in excitement and sat down with the rest of the guys on the blanket Tobi laid out. I opened up the picnic basket to find six sandwiches, some chips, cookies and some bottles of water. Of course I grabbed a cookie first and stuck it in my mouth, chewing on it silently while the others, except Spirit, were eating sandwiches. Cal, Tobi and Pein were talking quietly to each other, so I decided to talk to Spirit a bit. He was watching some of the larger trees far off in the distance.

"So… what do you like to do for fun?" He gave me a sidelong glance and went back to staring at the tree.

"Making puppets. Making art. It is a passion of mine." I nodded my head, finishing off another cookie. _He has a totally serious artist-like personality._

"Oh I see. Well that sounds pretty cool. Think you could make a puppet sometime? Here I mean. So I could see it. I like arty stuff and that'd be pretty cool. But only if you want to!"

"Well I wouldn't do it if I didn't want to. There'd be no point."

"I guess." _I forget not everyone is like me in that aspect. Sigh._

"Art is eternal and everlasting. That stupid brat thinks it's something that happens in an instant. In his explosions."

"Oh you mean Foofy? Art can be a lot of things though. There are so many different kinds. It's hard to put a label on what is and what isn't." I looked to Spirit who appeared to be thinking.

"I suppose… but the most beautiful things are the oldest."

"A lot of the time they are, but sometimes new things are cool too." Gazing around the park again I noticed Cal was observing some random plants and flowers and Pein was just snacking on some chips. Tobi was over by the small lake, feeding something to the local birds. And then I had a sudden thought.

"Hey Pein. I was wondering… could you guys teach me some of your ninja ways? That'd be cool to be able to defend myself better or beat people up." Instead of just waving off my question like usual, he appeared to almost take it seriously for a moment.

"I don't think you'd be a good ninja. You're too innocent and clumsy. You also do not have chakra, the energy we use to fuel our attacks. Chakra is in all life in our world and enables us to become better ninja. Therefore the best you could do is take classes from some other form of fighting like they have on TV." I pouted for a moment but realized he was probably right. And I'm not even sure if I'd be able to beat anyone up if the time called for it. So I had another idea.

"Well could I at least watch you guys like… you know… train sometime or something?"

"We could use some sparring so we stay on our guard, but I do not know of a place to do that without drawing attention." I put a hand to my chin to think for a moment.

"Well… I could ask my uncle if we could borrow his cabin sometime. He lives about forty-five minutes away in the mountains and there are tons of open areas there. People don't live very close together there either so it'd be perfect." _And that way I could have time to relax in the mountains and maybe look for wildlife or something! Yeah… awesome. And he has a hot tub! Even better! I love hot tubs…_

"I suppose that could work. We still have to do more searching though, but training is needed."

"RUNRUNRUNNNNN! THEIR GOING TO EAT MEEE!" We both looked up to see Tobi running past us at a blinding speed with a gaggle of geese chasing him. Immediately I stood up and dashed away from them too, pulling Spirit and Pein with me out of reflex. Cal was also running from the geese, who seemed especially attracted to his hair for some reason. Eventually they were the ones pulling me (since I have terrible stamina), making me hang from their grips. One of the geese flew up at us and I kicked it in the face with my flailing leg. Angered it, and a few others, started nipping at my legs and feet.

"OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME YOU STUPID GEESE! GO FASTER! FASTER!" And so they did. I knew they probably would have just fried them with their magic-ness or something, but being in a park that seemed like a terrible idea. Letting Tobi play with geese was a terrible idea! _I hope taking these "kittens" in won't mean an early death for me. _

**Back At Home**

When we finally made it back, I walked in a collapsed on the couch where Vash was sitting. Everyone else was standing around, including a now present Izaya (wearing a random top hat) and Rin.

"Hey what are you guys doing here? We were wondering where you were. And we were tryin' to find you… but then we got sidetracked." He stared at me for a moment before slightly narrowing his eyes. Rin just smiled happily.

"Izaya and I had a play date at my house. Now he's a gentleman." I covered my mouth to stop my laugh and noticed Vash scanning the room.

"So… where's Blondie?"

"Uh…"

**A Few Houses Down…**

"Wake up sleepyhead." Deidara wearily opened his eyes, feeling a fog over his mind.

"Ugh… where the hell am I, hm?" Francesca just giggled at his antics.

"We're in my room, hon. I have a surprise for you." Confused, Deidara opened his eyes wider to see his so called "admirer" standing beside him in a wedding dress. He blinked to be sure he wasn't dreaming, and tried to get up only to realize he was bound by ropes to her bed. "We're going to be married! I already have it planned! Isn't it great? Hehehe… you look so handsome right now."

"What the hell is wrong with you, yeah?" He hastily broke out of the ropes with his awesome strength and jumped up, looking for the exit. The girl stepped in front of him.

"Hey! We haven't even kissed yet!" Deidara backed up against her wall and decided to take his chances. Again summoning his strength, he turned around a punched straight through the concrete to the outside and hightailed it out of there. Francesca raced to the now gaping hole in her room and looked out to see he was gone. She sighed and sat on her bed.

"Poor guy. Why's he so shy of me all of a sudden? Oh well. He'll come around."

**Nicky's POV**

After I told Vash and the rest of the guys about our training plans, we decided to all stay home the rest of the night and lay low. Rin was conducting a tea party with some of the members (Fishy, Spirit and Cal), trying to teach them how to be more gentlemanly, like Izaya. Prolay had to pay back Vash for the trouble everyone else caused, poor guy, since he was the only one in the group who actually had money. Suddenly the door burst open and a frazzled looking Foofy walked in, scowling.

"Why the hell didn't anyone come look for me, hm? I was stuck at that crazy woman's house all day, yeah!" Vash just shrugged.

"Sorry. We had more important things to do. If you were a real ninja you probably wouldn't have been kidnapped." He seethed silently and locked himself in the bathroom. I yawned loudly, placing a hand over my mouth to cover it up.

"What a way to end a week like this."

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><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Sorry if there are any mistakes! I'm totally out of it right now and in serious need of some sugar. And I hate geese! They are the devil.

**Nicky: **A cabin trip sounds fun!

**Vash: **With these guys though it'll be anything but relaxing.


	13. Moments of the Embarrassing Type

**Foosha: **Hey everyone! I had a wonderful week of nothing! And it was fantastic!

**Nicky: **Focus Foosha!

**Foosha: **Right. Anyways, thanks for all the alerts out there! You guys make me smile :D like this. And thank-you for the reviews Chillybean, Yuti-Chan, DeeaE, Hex Aether, and Kyoki no Megami! You guys make me smile like this 8D So with this chapter there isn't as much intentional funny stuff as usual. More serious times I s'pose. Hope you enjoy anyway!

**Vash: **Foosha doesn't own Courage Wolf, Aion, Oreos, Goldfish Crackers or any other food/movie/game references mentioned.

* * *

><p>"Sorry to leave you this long, Rin. We all just kinda need a break from the chaos, and if they're able to train a bit, I think it'll help them be less restless. And it's only three days! That's not so bad, now is it?" The younger girl nodded her head sadly, enveloping the lower half of my body in a hug. Rin's mother patted her back. <em>Oops. Forgot she was here… hope she didn't here that train part… but I guess it could be training for anything really…<em>

"Now now Rin. Teenagers need to get out and about sometimes. They have hormones you know!" She gave me a suggestive look. "I saw all those handsome men come out of your house yesterday. I know you and Vash will have fun." _Teenagers? And what? Why would you say that? _I could feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment.

"Errr… it's not like that Mrs. Rin's mom… It's for a… um… oh! An outreach program for troubled youth! It's a retreat sort of thing. Ehehehe… We just decided to volunteer."

"Oh don't worry Nicky. I know how it is to be young, surrounded by beautiful young men! Heeheehee…"

"Well… I'm gonna go now, I need to get stuff packed. Thanks for understanding. Bye Rin!" And as fast as my legs could carry me, I darted out of that crazy house. Sometimes Rin's mom was… too forward for me. I was still learning how to be open with people after all. It can be quite overwhelming.

After I made it home I slammed the door shut, leaning against it with a heavy sigh.

"Did you finish saying goodbye to Rin? It's a good thing she isn't coming with us; one less thing to worry about." I looked up to see Vash dragging some bags to the door. The Akatsuki were just standing around the living room conversing quietly in their new casual clothing disguises, oblivious to our conversation. Well noticeably at least. Last night they had to grab some suitcases of their own for our little cabin adventure, and Vash had to get three days off from her Pharmacy program, which worked out wonderfully. She also made sure not to give them our exact location just in case _someone _was listening. Not that I minded her bothering Foofy, I just didn't want her bothering him when I could hear him complain about it the whole time. "Did you remember to pack? I didn't see your suitcase out."

"Monkeys! Hang on I'll go do it real quick like!" I scampered from the living room to the bedroom and tossed my propped up suitcase on the floor. Usually I was more prepared about this kind of stuff, but having the extra people to take care of made it easy to forget these things. "Hmmm where is she? I could have sworn she was here… no wait she was here! Where is she? I don't just move things and forget where they were. At least not with stuffed animals." On trips I ALWAYS brought a stuffed animal. For some reason I was super sensitive to long hours of transportation and got extremely motion sick or had anxiety attacks on almost every trip I went on. Not that I don't like traveling. I would love to go to new places if my body didn't hate me so much.

"Are you looking for this thing?" I bent backwards to see who had intruded, though it probably would have been easier to just turn around. I've always been one to not think things through. It was Pro- er… Kazu? Ugh, never mind I thought I knew it. Whatever. Anyways he was standing there with my plush Dalmatian (Ace) in his hand. He tossed it to me and I barely turned around in time to catch it. I had originally thought of trying to catch it while I was in my previous position of instability, but thought better of it less I wanted to fall on my head. The first thing I noticed was the new stitching patterns etched in strange places all over its body.

"What happened!" I asked in a half-hearted yell, too used to the fact that more than half of my stuffed animals had been sewn up again after brutal meetings with Marshmallow and a frustrated Foofy. At least Prolay was fixing them. And they looked sorta cute with the extra stitching. He just rubbed his uncovered face with his hand in an exasperated way.

"Hidan is an idiot. Vash made me fix it. That's about it." And without a goodbye he exited the room, still grumbling to himself. Happy to have found my travel buddy, I tucked her safely into my bag and rolled it out to the living room by the door. I noted that the other members had congregated in the kitchen along with Vash, preparing some last minute snacks and packing any food they wanted to bring along. _Now's a good time to get some advice to help me through this adventure! To Courage Wolf! _I grabbed my laptop from beside the couch and sat down to finish my task. Normally I would have joined the rest in stuffing my face, but little did they know I already had my snack and even packed a thing of Goldfish crackers and Oreos in a secret compartment on my bag. _Bahahaha. My snacks. _Once the page loaded up I clicked the button for advice, and soon saw the familiar angry wolf head with the words, "WHEN THINGS GET TOUGH I FUCK SHIT UP" next to him.

"Thanks for the advice Courage Wolf, but I don't think things will get that intense."

"Ready to go, Nicky?" I looked up from the screen to see Vash gathering everyone up near the door.

"Yeah I'm ready. Let's go!"

**Two Vehicles and A 45 Minute Drive Later…**

"Welcome to Park City guys!" Pein gave me a sidelong glance from the passenger seat.

"Park City? This is just a forest." I gave him a flat look before keeping my eyes on the road.

"Well yeah, but we're in the area of Park City! It's just over the other side of this mountain. So technically… this still belongs to Park City. I wouldn't just call it "random mountain area of cabins near Park City". That would be silly!" He rolled his eyes. "Anyways we're here! Look up there guys! It's like ginormous! Kinda! Well maybe medium sized!" Despite my poor judge of size, the cabin was mildly large, but not as big as some of the monsters I'd seen before. I pulled the car into a bed of gravel near the back of the cabin since the garage was locked. Vash still wasn't there, so my theory was she stopped to get gas.

"It's beautiful up here," Konan said quietly as she stepped out of the backseat of the vehicle. I also got out, admiring the view. Suddenly there were some hands on my shoulders moving me to one side. I stiffened and turned slightly to see Fishy looking around.

"Sorry you were standing right in front of the door." I just nodded keeping my head down. My cheeks felt a little warm. _Darn it! It's that stupid lady's fault! Now I'm completely aware of the number of guys around me! And they are all pretty attractive… well mostly. In a weird way I guess. _There was another pat on my shoulder, causing me to jump to one side in alarm. I looked to my left to see Spirit gazing at me boredly.

"Sorry, but that _was_ intentional. I just wanted to see you freak out again." A shiver went up my spine and I think the color in my face turned darker. Puffing out my cheeks, I stormed off towards the cabin before letting out a frustrated "Bahhh!" while waving my arms. Yeah, I had a thing with waving my arms a lot to express my emotions, even if it didn't make sense to anyone else but me.

"What's with her?" I heard someone whisper not too far behind me, and in my frustrated/embarrassed state of mind, I immediately turned on them.

"Shut up!" Not bothering, or wanting, to see their reactions, I quickened my pace to reach the bottom door of the cabin, unlocking it with the keys and pushing the door open. "Just get inside already! I'll get the suitcases!" _Crap. Now my mind is going to be noodles for the rest of this trip. How am I supposed to relax! Argh…I wonder if Vash is doing any better. Probably. She never gets embarrassed!_

**Vash's POV**

_How the hell did I end up with all the annoying ones! At least the Bastard isn't here too… ugh. _Not only did I have to get gas, I also had to wait for the stupid ones to steal some food from the mini-mart. So I sat in the driver's seat and waited. And waited and waited. _What the hell is taking them so long?_ After about five more minutes, I growled and angrily got out of my car, slamming the door and locking it before marching into the mini-mart thing. I glanced around, spotting the Bitch's blue cap. _Oh… he's going to get it. _But before I could slap him upside the head, I felt someone grab the top of my head and spin me around. I looked up bewildered, to see Tobi with an armful of different candies, though what he had in his hand was far more perplexing.

"Hey short girly! Tobi wants to know what these are, because Tobi thought they might be cotton sticks like Tobi saw on the carnival movie! But they don't they don't look as colorful as the other cotton sticks and they have containers over them!" He ended his request by shoving the box of _tampons _in my face; close enough to make me go cross-eyed.

I pushed the box away from my face and instead of punching his face in like I wanted to, I decided to explain it to him slowly.

"Well Tobi, those are actually used by girls for-"

"EXCUSE ME! Is this yours?" I whipped around to see the store clerk gesturing to Plantman who was munching on a bag of pork rinds casually.

"Hey bitch! Buy me this fucking bag of chips!"

"Short girly? What are the cotton sticks?" And that about hit my limit for the day.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?"

**Nicky's POV**

"Eh… I just got a really bad feeling…" I sunk into the comfy arm chair even more, snuggling into my giant sweater and sweat pants while cradling my cup of hot chocolate in my hands. Sure it was summer off of the mountain, but it was still relatively cool on it. And since no one had lived in the cabin since winter, there had been no heat since then. So we decided to light one of the fireplaces to warm the place up a bit. _I love cabins. If I was rich I'd live in a cabin and ski all the time and have a pet reindeer or something. Yeah… that'd be awesome. _Originally, I would have jumped in the hot tub immediately, but I decided to wait for Vash. I knew she was just as excited as I was about that. _Where is she anyway? _

"What's that you're drinking?" I glanced to my right to see Konan standing there in some sweats and a t-shirt. _Hehe. Seems as though she's taken a liking to the more comfy clothes, like me! _

"Oh, it's hot chocolate. Would you also like to partake in some chocolate of the hot variety?" _Sheesh, I'm in a weird mood right now. _She nodded slowly and took a seat in the arm chair next to mine. We were sitting in the living room that reached all the way up to the ceiling, leaving a balcony that looked over the living room from the second floor. And there was also a basement. So I suppose the cabin was pretty large. There were about eight bedrooms, including a master with an amazing bathtub, and four bathrooms. Then there was the large living room we were in, the nice sized kitchen and another living room downstairs and upstairs with couches, televisions and tables. All in all, it was my dream house. Seriously.

I poured her a cup of steaming water and stirred in the hot chocolate mix. Walking back into the living room, I handed her the cup, after warning her it might be hot, and took a seat in my comfy chair. _Well… maybe I will be able to relax after all. None of the guys are bothering us and this is pretty nice. _I decided to make small talk.

"So what do you like to do besides ninja stuff?" Her eyes flickered over to me as she took a sip of hot chocolate. She immediately pulled back (after burning her tongue probably) and started blowing on the liquid.

"Well… I enjoy origami."

"Really? Are you like really good? Or is it just a hobby?"

"I suppose I'm better than most, but I just love to do it more than anything."

"That's neat. I wish I could do that. The only thing I can make is those mouth things. Oh I have another question. Are you and Pein dating?" And of course she was drinking this time and just about spit it out all over the chair, but recovered quickly, pulling it off like she didn't just choke.

"Eh-hm. Well we're childhood friends actually."

"Oh wow! That's awesome! I don't even talk to my childhood friends anymore. I wonder what happened to them… kinda miss them actually. But they were all dudes."

"What's wrong with male friends?"

"Oh! Nothing I mean it's just… it'd probably be weird of me to get in touch with them now after all these years. They're all probably married now or something."

"Marriage? But you're only twenty. No reason to think about that so early."

"Nonono. I'd never get married this early. It's just… a lot of people in the area I lived in got married right out of high school, so when they were like eighteen. And that's just crazy. I could never do that. Besides I don't even have a boyfriend, I've got an animal career to think about!" Konan chuckled lightly. "Hey is your hair naturally blue?"

"Yes it is."

"It's so pretty. I've been meaning to tell you that. I've always liked that color."

"Well thank-you. I much like your hair color too."

"Really? I think it looks like dead grass." She laughed again quietly. _It's nice to see that she seems more relaxed. And it probably helps that the other guys aren't here. I hope they aren't getting into any trouble. _

Suddenly there was a knock on the front door before it burst open, revealing a panting Vash. She strode across the room with her suitcase and up the stairs to one of the bedrooms, slamming the door.

"Uh oh. Something happened. Better go see what's up. I'll talk to ya later Konan." I waved and she nodded before I set my empty mug in the sink and skipped my way to Vash's room.

**Vash's POV**

"I hate them. I hate them all. I wish they'd burn and die a terribly slow death." There was a knock and then the door creaked open slowly. I looked up from my suitcase to see Nicky looking sheepish.

"Uh hey… you look a little disgruntled there. You okay?" Glaring at her slightly I went back to looking for my coffee mix. I _need_ my coffee.

"You left me with all the _difficult_ ones. And I had to threaten Stitches to pay for all of the stuff they wanted to buy because they actually went in there using their disguises instead of the "ninja" way. If he hadn't, I would have found his money and burned it, while laughing. Anyway, anything interesting happen before I got here?" Nicky looked around before closing the door behind her, locking it and then walking over to where I sat, taking a seat next to me.

"So… have you noticed that we've been living with like nine guys? For a while? And some of them are kinda… you know… cute?" I just shrugged and cheered a bit when I finally came across my coffee jar.

"It's kind of hard to miss them considering that pissing me off seems to be a favorite hobby of theirs. And cute is _not _one of the _many_ words that come to mind when I think of them though…" She gave an exasperated sigh and promptly fell over, stretching dramatically across the floor.

"How can you _not _realize that kinda stuff? I'm like freaking out here!" Rolling my eyes I zipped up my suitcase, moving it over to the side of the bed. No reason in unpacking if I'd only be staying three days. "I don't even know if I want to go in the hot tub anymore. I'm too embarrassed." I scoffed and poked her side, making her jump and roll away from me.

"Come on. You've been looking forward to that since you came up with the idea. I'll go with you. And it's not like you have to wear a swimsuit." She nodded slowly and sighed in defeat.

"Fine. Let's go then. I'm getting cold not being by the fire place."

**Nicky's POV**

After our little chat I left her room to mine next door so I could get dressed, and for some reason I was more paranoid than normal that someone was watching me.

"No that's silly. Why would anyone watch me? Ha…haha… ha." So despite my calming words, I grabbed my clothes and headed to the bathroom, hoping to feel a little more secure. I knocked to make sure no one was already in there, and after hearing nothing I quickly hopped in and shut the door, making sure to lock it. "Swimsuit time!"

"Oooh! Tobi is doing swim time too!" The shower curtain beside me was suddenly pulled back revealing a masked, shirtless Tobi. And you know what? I've never yelled so loud in my life. Because I don't do screaming so… yeah yelling is as loud as it gets.

"! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" And without warning, on his part, I grabbed his arm and unlocked the door, tossing him out in the hallway roughly. "I'M SORRY TOBI BUT THERE ARE SOME LINES THAT SHOULD NOT BE CROSSED! SO GO AWAY!" I rammed into the door to close it, and I'm surprised it didn't collapse, though I'm probably not strong enough to do that. I exhaled loudly, but sucked in a breath when I saw Zetsu's head coming through the floor. He just stared at me and I blinked back in disbelief.

"What's all the commotion about? **You're way too loud-**"

"I NEED PRIVACY! LEAVE!" Before I could properly digest what I was about to do, I kicked my foot as hard as I could into his head and being the magician he was, he just flew back into the floor.

**In the Hallway**

"Tobi, what the hell did you do this time, yeah?"

"Tobi didn't do anything! Tobi was just getting dressed and girly came in the bathroom and Tobi said hi and girly kicked Tobi out!" Deidara let out a snort and laughed loudly. Out of the floor popped Zetsu's bruising face followed by the rest of his body.

"**She fucking kicked me. **Well we did scare her appearing like that. **That's no excuse for hitting me.**"

"What's going on?" The group glanced over to see Pein approach the scene, arms folded and looking displeased. Itachi, who randomly appeared behind Deidara, stepped next to the bathroom door.

"Tobi and Zetsu scared Nicky." Pein nodded his head, ignoring Tobi's protests of not doing it intentionally, and knocked on the bathroom door. Nicky opened the door looking flustered and embarrassed. Instead of wearing the swimsuit she planned to wear, she decided to wear it underneath a t-shirt and shorts. And it appeared she was right to do so. She was about to squeeze past the crowd, but Pein blocked her exit.

"Tomorrow you will show us where we can train without being spotted." Nicky shook her head "yes" but didn't meet anyone's eyes. Satisfied, Pein moved to let her pass, and as soon as he did, she bolted.

**Nicky's POV**

_I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die. Ugh that was awful! And I feel bad, but I feel more embarrassed and frustrated and I just want to hide under my bed covers even though they probably will forget about it later. I'll never forget! And it wasn't even that bad! Why am I freaking out! That's because you don't interact with the opposite sex much unless it has to do with gaming. Shut up! Stop being stubborn. No I can do what I want! Sigh. _

Ending the inner argument, I opened the sliding glass door that led to the hot tub. "Huh. No Vash. She's slow."

**Vash's POV**

After hearing Nicky yell, I tried to pick up the pace in my changing, which was probably a bad idea because I tripped over the pant leg I was removing and crashed into the door, causing it to open (since I apparently forgot to close it all the way…) and me to fall onto the ground in a painful heap.

"Ugh… that was _not_ smart."

"Hah! The short bitch is in her underwear." Startled I immediately sat up to see the Bitch and Stitches looking at me oddly, and that's when I realized that I was sitting in my doorway, with my pants half off, in my underwear. _WHAT THE FUCK! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?_ And in my extreme embarrassment, I cracked up and started laughing almost hysterically. The amusement vanished from the Bitch's face, turning to confusion.

"Why the fuck are you laughing, short bitch? You should be fucking crying now!" I just continued to laugh and scooted backwards into my room until I could close the door, which I did so immediately, locking it so this wouldn't happen again. Putting a hand to my head I struggled to stop laughing so I could breathe again.

"This is so fucked up."

**Nicky's POV**

Once I finally calmed down, I went back inside and grabbed my pack of Oreos, bringing them back outside with me so I could snack on them at my leisure. _Still no Vash. Hm. _I discovered upon going inside that everyone had dispersed to do their own activities. Since I brought my Wii up with me, I hooked it up for them when I arrived so whoever wanted to play, could. Of course, Tobi, Fishy, Marshy and Cal were the ones to first play, as usual. Walking by the living room earlier I noticed Konan folding some paper in midair. I'd remember to ask her about that later. Spirit, Itachi and Pein were nowhere to be found, Foofy was playing with some Play-Doh we bought him in the kitchen and Prolay was counting his increasing piles of money at the dining room table. _Maybe having their own space will help them let loose a little. God knows the hovel we live in is much too small for twelve people to stay at, much less get along. But something tells me they don't really get along that well anyway. Well except for Fishy and Itachi. Though I think their relationship works because one of them doesn't talk much and the other is fine with doing many things as long as it's killing stuff. _

"Okay no more thinking about that stuff. Time to relax." I turned around in my spot in the hot tub and switched on the jets. "Yeah… now it's nice." Slowly, my muscles began to loosen, and eventually I just let my body float there in the bubbles. "This is the best thing everrrrrr… I don't even remember what I was freaking out about in the first place." I heard the sound of the sliding door open so I cracked an eye open to see Vash putting the door back into place. She also opted for shorts and a t-shirt over a swimsuit. Not saying a word, she jumped into the opposite side of the tub and soaked silently. "Yo. What took you so long, woman?" She glanced up from her spot and removed her glasses, setting them on the hot tub ledge by my cookies.

"I died, but luckily I'm a healer so I just resurrected myself." I facepalmed at her terrible Aion reference and she just chuckled, sinking deeper into the bubbles.

"But seriously, what really happened?" We stared each other down for a moment before she gave in with a sigh.

"Well… I was in the middle of changing and I tripped and fell through the damn door so some boys saw me in my underwear…" Her face was quite red at that point and I was completely shocked.

"You… you're embarrassed!"

"Uh… What? Did you not just hear what I said?"

"Well of course I did! And that sucks! I just didn't know you got embarrassed!" She scoffed at me and threw bubbles in my direction.

"Everyone gets embarrassed. You just happen to get embarrassed more easily than I do. It doesn't mean I'm immune." Agitated that my theory about Vash possibly being an evil robot were thrown out the window just then, so I decided to make bubbles in the water at my corner of the tub in irritation. In a few seconds, I was over my irritation and decided to vent my relief.

"Thank god none of them have found us yet. I think I'd die if they all decided to come in the hot tub, though I'd be okay with Konan 'cause she's awesome. Did you know she likes origami like you? Except I saw her doing it in midair, so maybe she's a ninja psychic." Appearing thankful for the change in topic she nodded her head.

"Hm… maybe so. I should have her teach me telekinesis then." I nodded in agreement, and then suddenly remembered something fun.

"Hey! You know what we should do tonight? We should be towel ninjas!" Vash giggled.

"That sounds like a bad idea." Now it was my turn to laugh.

"Yeah it probably is. Hehe. Fun times though. We'll have to do it when they leave I guess."

"I wonder when that will be… hopefully soon. I miss not having to constantly worry about what they are getting into."

"I dunno… I like doing stuff. And it's nice to have people over but… I could do without some of them."

"I could do without all of them." I shrugged and brought my hands out of the water to see my fingers getting pruney.

"Hey I think I'm gonna head in for now. I want to shower before everyone else decides they need to."

"All right, I'm going to stay out here for a bit longer." She waved and I waved back, wrapping myself in a towel, grabbing my bag of Oreos and heading inside.

**Vash's POV**

I think I was out there for at least another half hour before I realized it was almost six. My stomach growled for dinner. _Guess I should go eat then. _As I stood up I was met with the sound of the sliding door. I looked over to see Stitches standing there in a black swimsuit with a towel in hand. He looked surprised to see me and stopped for a moment while we just stared at each other.

"Sorry, I was just leaving." I was about to step out of the hot tub when he shook his head, set down his towel and got in beside me, sighing loudly.

"I don't care if you're here, you don't annoy me." And I sat right back down, feeling almost obligated to stay after he said that. Though I must say it was a little awkward since he was one of the ones who saw my underwear. _Oh well, not like I can do anything about that now. Might as well make small talk I guess. _

"What's everyone else doing? Have they trashed the cabin yet?" It was hard not to stare at his stitches while he was sitting there. It was strange to see them so obvious like that. He leaned back against the tub, resting his head on the edge with his body further in the water.

"Most of them are concentrated on that game system of your friend's. I'm not sure where the others are though. I just had to get out of there to avoid Hidan's yelling. Too bad I can't kill that damn idiot."

"Why not? I would."

"He's immortal, unfortunately." I groaned, placing my face in my hands.

"That's awful. Why would anyone let _him _be immortal?"

"Who knows?"

It was silent after that for a while, but it was a more comfortable silence surprisingly. _I guess he's not so bad compared to the rest. At least he has some sense about him. He's not necessarily bad looking either. He just has a lot of…stitches. Hey, maybe he'll tell me about them!_

"How'd you get those stitches?"

"None of your business." I frowned. _Well maybe not. Hmm… awkward. _

"Fine. Well, I've been in here long enough." Stepping out of the hot tub, I wrapped myself in a towel and put my glasses back on. I took a step to leave but was stopped by his voice.

"You're… okay."

"Uh… thanks I guess." And then I left him to enjoy his alone time. _That was weird._

**Nicky's POV**

"Well that was a well needed shower." I grabbed the towel from my hair and rubbed it back and forth over my head before hanging it to dry on the towel rack. "I feel so much better, and now it's time for food! Nomnomnomnom. "

"You really do talk to yourself a lot, don't you, yeah?" Of course that voice could only belong to Foofy. Not even turning from where I was searching my bag for a sweater I answered him.

"Sure do. What do you want, Foofy?" I heard him grumble at his nickname.

"What the hell, un? My name is not Foofy, it's Deidara, yeah!" _He's too easy to mess with 'cause he takes things so seriously. _I turned to him with a flat look.

"Whatevs little man. What do you want anyway?"

"Vash told me to let you know they're making dinner, hm."

"Thanks, I know already though. I'm psychic." He scoffed loudly and I turned around to give him a questioning look. "What? I'm serious. I already know what we're eating too. It's spaghetti~!" When I said this I waved my arms in a dramatic manner towards him, adding "OooooOOOOooooo"s afterwards. "How did I knowWWww thaaaaAAaaaat?" His frowned deepened even more.

"I hate you, yeah." And after shutting my door a little too loudly, he left in a huff.

"Stupid baby. Annnnd I guess I forgot to pack my sweater. Brilliant, Nicky. At least there's spaghetti."

**The Kitchen**

"Spaghetti time!" I shouted when I stepped into the kitchen. My weird mood was back again. No one looked over but Vash who was stirring the sauce. I took a seat at one of the ends of the dining table, besides Konan who was still playing with some paper. Watching her play with it reminded me of the question I thought to ask her earlier, but that idea was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. I turned around in my seat and blinked my eyes at Pein who was glowering down at me.

"You're sitting in my seat, girl." Whatever possessed me at that moment was really brave.

"I don't see your name on it, sir. And besides you can sit on the other side of Konan. I was here first."

"I'm warning you. I'll make you move if I have to."

"Hey." I pointed to him and gave him my best serious look. "Stop yellowing."

"…what?" I folded my arms and tilted back the chair a bit.

"You heard me. I don't need to repeat myself." And in an instance I was flat on my back when he tipped the chair the rest of the way over. He stood over me looking neutral. I frowned and blew in his face before rolling over and out of his reach in case he tried something, which he did not. He just picked the chair up and resumed sitting. Shrugging off his blatant ignoring of me, I also stood up and took a seat on the other side of Konan. One by one the rest of the members took a seat, and before long Vash soon walked over, gesturing to the pots filled with food behind her.

"All right everyone, dinner is ready. Help yourselves."

Once I got a plateful of awesomeness, and apologized to Cal again for kicking him in the head, I sat down and dug in. And that's when I got a great idea. I turned to Vash who sat on my left.

"Hey we should watch a zombie movie after this!" She raised an eyebrow.

"You don't think some of the more mentally challenged ones would take it too seriously and turn it into a big deal?"

"Pfft no! That'd be stupid. I think they'd realize they aren't real."

"If you say so…"

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Does this just scream bad idea? No? Well then I have Nicky to do it for you!

**Nicky: **THIS SOUNDS LIKE A BAD IDEA!

**Vash: **Agreed, but we're going to do it anyway because it sounds entertaining.

**Foosha: **Now don't dillydally! Let me know what you think!

**Nicky: **Yeah! Otherwise the dillydally ghost will come out and punch you in the noggin!

**Vash: **Another reference Foosha does not own.


	14. Scaring is Caring But Not Really

**Foosha: **Hey guys I'm back! Sorry for the delay but everything is figured out now so things will be back on schedule! And sorry this chapter is slightly shorter than the rest. It was hard to come up with stuff with so many things going on lol -

**Nicky: **Foosha does not own Zombieland, Left4Dead or any other references she forgot about! Teehee.

**Vash: **Let's start this thing!

**Foosha: **Thanks for all the alerts and faves! And of course thank-you Crazier Than Hell, Chillybean, DeeaE, Yuti-Chan and Hex Aether for the reviews! :D And Happy Halloween everybody!

* * *

><p>"All right everyone settle down. I has in mai possessionz, da moovee ov uhmazingz!"<p>

"Nicky quit being weird and just put on the damn movie. You're confusing them." I stomped one of my feet in irritation before starting up the DVD. _She never lets me have any fun. Pfoo! _Yup, after dinner I eventually convinced Vash to watch the zombie movie with us. We both weren't really fans of scary stuff, but how could I say no to zombies? I couldn't! _They're just too fun! _And this movie wasn't even really scary. So Vash had no choice!

"Let the movie fun begin!" I returned to my seat between Foofy and Spirit, cuddling up under a very comfy microplush blanket, which I so graciously shared with them, and pressed "play" on the screen. "I think you guys might like this. It's one of my favorite scary-ish movies!" Foofy scoffed from my left.

"If it's something you like, I doubt it would be scary, yeah." I felt Spirit move next to me.

"I actually agree with the brat this time. You don't seem like the type to handle scary films." Muttering a "whatever" under my breath, I decided to not let it get to me and just enjoy watching Zombieland. Vash remained quiet through the whole conversation from her spot on the other couch between the armrest and Konan. She seemed content though, I'm assuming because it was a movie she liked. _I'm glad she didn't get stuck next to someone that bugs her, or this would be a looooonnnnnng-ass movie._ Tobi bounced excitedly in the lazy-boy on my right.

"Tobi is excited for this zombie movie!" An evil voice cackled in my head. _Kekeke… I can't wait to see their reactions. You're evil you know that? Yeah only slightly though. This movie really isn't that scary. I suppose._

**After the Movie…**

After changing into my pajama shirt and sweat pants, I walked over to the bathroom to brush my teeth, only to run into Vash also heading for the bathroom. I gave her a small wave.

"Hey, I dunno about you, but I think they enjoyed the movie. Pretty cool, huh? We're educating them about neat stuff one step at a time!" She smiled and chuckled.

"Yeah I guess so. Did you notice how the Bitch, Blondie and MaskBoy bolt out of there right at the end? Seems a bit suspicious."

"Maybe they were secretly terrified. I wouldn't put it past them. Bahaha! But isn't Marshy immortal or somethin'? I think he told me about that once, but I can't remember. So he's kinda like a zombie… a zombie that thinks… sometimes. But then again Prolay Patch Face could be a zombie too. He's super old and has like a zillion hearts or something like that."

"Prolay Patch Face? Are you talking about Stitches?"

"Yup. I just added Patch Face to the end of his name… because I felt like it."

"Well all right then. You can use the bathroom first if you want. I was going to shower anyway." I nodded and walked in the bathroom before shutting the door behind me and then I was paranoid again, but this time it was about random zombies climbing through the window, even though I knew that'd be impossible. _We're on the second floor and there's nothing for them to climb! Hah. That'd be ridiculous… wouldn't it? _And then the "what-ifs" started to invade my brain. _What if there was an abandoned scaffolding right below the window with a ladder leading up it? Can zombies climb up ladders? Or would they be more like traditional zombies who would just gather at the bottom and moan loudly? Shit! I have to be sure! _

Terrified of what I might find, I decided to get it over with and thrust the medium sized window open, gazing down at the ground with a sense of dread filling my stomach, which dispersed at the site of an empty yard. "Oh thank god. There's nothing there. Nothing, nothing, nothing. No need to be paranoid now. I could take care of zombies anyway! I'm totally prepared for that stuff."

"Uh… could Nicky-chan close the window now? Tobi is getting cold."

"Eep!" I jumped back and slipped on the bathroom mat, landing on my bottom. "Owie… my tail bone…" I grimaced in pain, but forced myself to look back outside to see Tobi holding onto the window in his pajamas. He hopped back in, landing on the bathtub and looking at me curiously (at least I assumed since he had his head cocked to one side).

"Why is girly looking outside?"

"Err… no! Why were you outside the window? That's messed up!"

"No! Tobi didn't mean it! Tobi was just outside looking for zombies when Tobi decided to make all the windows closed so zombies wouldn't get in!" I facepalmed. Tobi normally didn't bug me, but at the moment he was really irritating me/creeping me out.

"Tobi. Zombies aren't real. I was checking for them too but, I promise they aren't real." He giggled and patted my head.

"Oh Nicky-chan, zombies are real. Tobi just saw them on the news. They are in Park City!" _Heh… what?_

"Uh… that was probably a weird commercial or something then… zombies aren't real, I promise. I'm just paranoid and think stuff comes to life when I think about them. So… that's my excuse."

"Whatever girly says! Tobi saw it though! And Tobi is building a fort so zombies can't get in!" And with that he scampered out of the bathroom, leaving the door ajar and me still sitting uncomfortably on the floor.

"Hahaha… Oh… Tobi…. Silly man child. Zombies don't exist… right? Ahaha… ha…. ha…"

"Talking to yourself again?" I glanced up from the floor tiles to see Spirit and his read hair. Not sure why his hair color was relevant, but that's what I first noticed.

"What's with guys and invading my bathroom?"

"I did not invade. You left the door open and I was simply walking by it when I heard you conversing by yourself." Getting to my feet I scoffed, waving him off with my left hand.

"I do not wish to hear of these lies you speak. Now leave Pinocchio!"

"Who's Pinocchio?" I was about to reply, but didn't get the chance, because the lights suddenly shut off, leaving me unable to see much at all. I was never very good at seeing at night. Guess I didn't eat enough carrots in my younger days. But besides that, I was beginning to have a panic attack, and could feel my heartbeat speed up. _Argh curse this fear of the dark! I blame it on that show "Are You Afraid of the Dark". I never even watched it! The commercial and beginning of the show were scary enough!_

"Hey uh… are you still there, Spirit?"

"No." I sighed quietly in relief, even though I was slightly put off by his sarcasm. _He is kind of a jerk though. _

"… Uh… don't leave yet, okay? Let me just get up." I felt around the floor with my hands until they bumped into the counter. _Success! _Grabbing the top of it, I used it to make sure I wouldn't fall when trying to stand up, something that happened quite often when I would sit on the floor.

"Why? Are you afraid of the dark?" _He just had to use those words, now of course every image I've ever glimpsed from a scary movie is running through my head! Damnit!_

"Just wait, okay? So what if I am?"

"What are you, a child?" _Ugh it just had to be this guy didn't it? Didn't it!_

"Just shut up." While we were arguing, I was able to navigate towards the door. I reached out again towards the shadow in front of me and felt the fabric of Spirit's shirt, gripping it tightly in my hand. "Now, let's go find everyone else and some flash lights."

"You're almost as bad as the other brat. I'm not babysitting." I let out a growl of frustration and tried to aim a kick at his shin, but completely missed, making me lean into him in my unbalanced state. Immediately I jumped back and started walking forward while pulling on the bottom of his shirt.

"Fine I'll just lead you then and hope we don't fall down a flight of stairs!"

"You really can't see?"

"Nope." There was a sigh and eventually he was the one walking ahead, muttering something along the lines of "blahblahblah stupid brat… blahblahblah". Not in the mood for arguing with his stupid face, I remained silent, concentrating on the texture of the fabric between my fingers so I could take my mind off of the feeling that I should look behind me because someone was following us. _Don't look don't look. What if you see something really creepy? _But despite my better judgment, I peeked over my shoulder anyway, to see something move slightly. I tensed and gripped his shirt tighter. "Hey uh… did you see that?"

"No. I don't have eyes in the back of my head." Scowling, I turned back around and trudged after him. _Asshole! Grrr…_

Eventually, we made it to the main floor living room where Konan and a few others sat around with random candles and flashlights. I released Spirit's shirt and scuttled over to Konan.

"How did you guys find those when it's so dark?" She looked up at me.

"Well we're ninjas so we're used to traveling in the dark and such. Our eyes just adjust faster than yours."

"I don't think mine adjust at all," I mumbled before observing Pein stand before the small group.

"Who are we missing?" Glancing around, I noticed an absent Vash.

"Hey, where's Vash?"

"Hidan, Deidara, Tobi and Kisame are also gone," Konan added. There was a cough to my left and I looked to see Itachi's eyes glowing red, looking calm as ever.

"Kisame went to the hot tub after the movie. He's probably still there." Pein nodded to him and looked back to the rest of us.

"The rest will find their way back. In the meantime, Itachi and Sasori try to find out why the power went out. The rest of us will remain here." I raised my hand slightly. Pein gave an exasperated sigh. _Psh no need for dramatics. I barely see you!_ "What?"

"I need to look for Vash… but I'm kinda scared. So… does anyone wanna go with me?" Of course, no one moved. Finally there was a groan and Cal stepped forward almost reluctantly.

"**Fine. We'll go with the girl. **Wow you're being nice today. **Shut up idiot. I'm just tired of her whining.**"

"Yayy! Thank-you! Both of you! I guess? Yes. Now let's go find Vash!"

**Vash's POV**

_Uh… where did all the light go? _Of course I was looking through my suitcase for something when the lights went off. Immediately I reached for the phone that was supposed to be in my pocket, but realized that I had put it somewhere else since I was going to take a shower. _Damnit. _I sat up on my knees and contemplated my next move. _Hm… guess I should go find everyone else. They're probably downstairs since that's where we left the flashlights. _Standing up, I suddenly bumped my head on something hard, causing me to fall back onto my knees, holding my head.

"Ow!"

"Oh Tobi is sorry short girly! Tobi was just trying to see what short girly was looking at!"

"What the hell are you doing in my room MaskBoy!"

"MaskBoy? Tobi wants to know who this "MaskBoy" is, but first Tobi must take short girly to zombie fort!" There was a rough pull on my arm and I was soon standing up, somewhat dazed.

"Tobi, zombies aren't real and they aren't taking over the world. I told Nicky we shouldn't watch that movie, since you'd probably have trouble comprehending that." There was silence, and suddenly a giggle.

"Oh short girly, Nicky-chan said the saaaaame thing! But Tobi saw the zombies outside already! So Tobi knows there are zombies."

"Sure Tobi… sure. I need to get downstairs so… leave." I looked up to see him shrug and scamper out of the room. Now aggravated having to deal with him, I got up and stomped out of the room, easily finding the stairs and the lights emitting from the living room. When I walked in I noticed the only ones there were Stitches, Bastard and Konan. They looked towards me as I walked in. "Where is everyone?" Stitches answered from the couch.

"Hidan, Deidara, Tobi and Kisame are missing. Nicky and Zetsu went to find you, and Itachi and Sasori are trying to fix the electricity." I nodded at the thoroughness of his explanation, and became worried when I heard Nicky was looking for me with the creepy plant man.

"Where did Nicky go?"

"I believe she went downstairs first because she thought you might have been using the bathroom down there," Konan added. I picked up a flashlight and nodded to her.

"All right. I'm going to go look for her." And without waiting for them to comment, I left to go find Nicky.

**Nicky's POV**

"Well I think we've been down here long enough… maybe we should go. It's kinda creeping me out." Even though I felt a little better knowing that I had a ferocious plant guy with me, I was still afraid of the "what ifs". _What if a bunch of monsters come out and distract him enough that he has to fight them off and I'm left alone to die! _

"Maybe she went out to the car or something?" Gathering my courage, I agreed with his suggestion and we left through one of the backdoors. I was soon met with a rush of cool air, and promptly folded my arms closer to my body, though that seemed to do little help. Cal seemed unaffected by the drastic change of temperature even though he was wearing no shirt and striped boxer shorts. _Ugh and of course now I just noticed his lack of clothing. How wonderful! _Out of instinct I scooted away from him, embarrassed by his near nakedness. _Darnit now I'm awkward again!_

"So uh…-" Suddenly there was a loud rustling sound from the bushes besides me. I yelped and jumped back towards Cal. After about a minute of standing there frozen, nothing happened, so I relaxed, thinking it had been a squirrel or something.

"BWAHHH, UNNN!"

"HOLY CRAP FACE! ZOMBIE!" I jumped and took off, before I was yanked back by the collar of my shirt and held up towards the source of the scary noise, to see Foofy laughing hysterically. My face was steaming in anger, and I was never angry. Maybe it was more from the humiliation. "CURSE YOU FOOFY! I NEARLY DIED! DIED!" And as usual, I reacted in the only way I could in an extremely embarrassing situation; with violence! I kicked his shin as hard as I could and started punching him in the chest. "!" Eventually he grabbed my hands to stop the weak hits.

"Chill out, yeah. I was just trying to scare you and it worked, hm," he smirked as he released me, and I just scuffed the ground with me foot in frustration. _Fuck I hate him! Fuck fuck fuck fuck! I don't even say that word! But he makes me say that word! Argh! Hate! _

"Fine whatever! I'm still looking for Vash so… go away or something! You chicktopus!" He gave me a confused look.

"What the hell, un? I'm not even going to ask, yeah." And with that, he walked back towards the house, with a satisfied look on his face. I just pouted and tugged on Cal's arm.

"Let's keep looking."

"**I can walk, don't pull me.**"

"Fine fine. Let's just hurry so I can get back and bug Foofy for scaring me."

**Vash's POV **

_Well… she isn't down here. Maybe she went back upstairs._ I raced back up to the main floor. _Perhaps she went to check if I was in the hot tub? _I walked to the patio and opened the sliding door to see no Nicky, but a strange mound of hair sticking straight out of the tub. I leaned over the side to get a closer look, when the rest of the creature shot out of the pool, knocking me back in surprise.

"What the fuck?"

"HAHAHA sorry shorty, I didn't mean to scare you." Wiping the water spots from my glasses with my shirt, I squinted in the voice's direction to see a large shape. I could only guess, since Stitches was inside, that it was Sharkface.

"Why are you in there in the dark?"

"I like being in the water. And this is really nice."

"Okay… have you seen Nicky?"

"Nope! Why is she missing?"

"Well… there are a few people missing. She was looking for me and now I'm looking for her."

"Do you need some help?"

"If you want, I'm sure they're okay though."

"Well let me know if you don't find them soon then." I waved to him and headed back inside. _He seems like a nice guy, I wonder if the only reason he's with this organization is because he looks weird. _

After about twenty minutes of checking around the main floor, I returned to my original path of going upstairs. I was looking through the nearest room to the stairs when my flashlight died. _Damn now what. _

"Hehehe…" I glanced around the room quickly.

"Who's there? Don't hide that's stupid."

"Fuck you bitch I'm not hiding. I was going to fucking scare you but you're just a fucking scare-proof bitch!" The Bitch emerged from the closet next to me, looking as pissed off as ever.

"So is that why you left? Because you wanted to scare someone?"

"Fuck off. I'm not talking with a fucking bitch anymore." I just shrugged and also left the room, glad that Nicky didn't get wrapped up in that mess. _She would've been easily scared and this would be an even bigger mess. Where the hell is she anyway?_

**Nicky's POV**

_Okay stay calm Nicky, stay calm… _Somehow, I got separated from Cal, and now I was in the woods, hugging a tree for dear life and completely lost. _Probably lost him when I rushed away after hearing weird noises. Dangit. It's all my fault. Stupid stupid stupid. _I know I could have screamed or yelled for help or something, but I was too terrified that I would draw unwanted attention to myself if I did so. _He probably went back anyway. Fuck fuck fuck! _

"I'll be okay. Someone will come looking for me. And they're ninjas so… it'll be fast! Right. Good."

"Grrraaaahhhhhhrrrr…" I stiffened and turned around immediately.

"W-who's there?" There was the sound of crackling branches. I backed up away from my current spot to an even larger tree. "Hey I took self-defense classes! I-I'll kick your ass!"

The sounds continued, getting louder and more frequent as time passed, and seemingly increasing in number. Somehow I had managed to maneuver myself up a shorter tree, so I was higher off the ground, but still reachable. _That way I can kick them in the head!_ Finally there was a breach in the foliage near me, and out emerged something I never wanted to see in this position.

"H-holy shit! Zombie! ZOMBIE! OH MY GOD! I DON'T EVEN HAVE A WEAPON! I'M GOING TO DIE!" There were three of them, slowly approaching me. Despite my scared state, I was able to notice that they seemed more like the traditional zombies, rather than the Left4Dead zombies. _Thank god. I would cry right now… even though I think I'm still going to cry right now. _I gripped the tree bark as tight as I could, making my hands bleed a bit. They were right beneath me, reaching out for my feet. I kicked one right in the head and it went over easily, groaning in the process. The other two escaped my kicking and grabbed my legs, pulling me down slowly. I tried to loosen their grip but to no avail. "OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE!"

Knowing the worse was only to come if they bit me or ate me, I let go of the branch and allowed myself to drop on top of them. They weren't prepared for this obviously and got squished under the sudden body weight. All too aware of the disgusting scabs and oozing sores on them, I quickly stood up and ran blindly into the forest. More zombie moans started the sound behind me, but I didn't turn my head. _Go legs go! I know I don't use you enough, but if I die I won't use you at all! _

Suddenly I collided with something head on. I nearly fell back until whatever I hit grabbed me by the shoulders to stop me from falling.

"You stupid girl, why are you running so recklessly through a wooded area?" Steadying myself with the person's arms, I was able to gaze up at their face. _Pein? Not one I was expecting._ Then I remembered why I was running and hid behind his back, peeking around his right arm I pointed towards where I came from.

"Z-zombies! They were there! They ripped my pants! And-and got gross stuff on me!"

"Zombies? Like from that film you made us watch? Those don't exist here, do they?"

"A-apparently they do! Kill them! Kill them all!" There was a pressure around my waist and I was swooped up into someone's arms and carried off towards the house.

"Tobi told girly that the zombies were here but girly didn't listen!" I blinked up at the orange masked fellow.

"Tobi wait! We need to help!"

"Tobi is helping! He's going to hide you in the fort with short girly!"

"Fine. Just hurry."

"Tobi is hur-wahhh!" And then I was on the ground in mud. I sat up on my elbows and looked back to see Tobi had face planted after getting his foot twisted in a root. Then there were hands on me again, but this time they felt grimy and gross. In my peripheral vision I could see strange colored skin and I instantly flinched away from the touch.

"OH MY GOD TOBI THE ZOMBIES ARE EVERYWHERE!" I kicked with my legs and sped towards Tobi's form when I was able to stand. Unable to carry him, since he was somehow unconscious, I tried pulling him by the shirt with no luck. The zombies started to scramble after me and I panicked, releasing Tobi's shirt and running off to the direction I thought Pein was in. "SORRY TOBI I TRIED! AT LEAST YOU HAVE A MASK ON!"

**Vash's POV**

For some reason everyone decided to leave the house after Redhead and Chichi came back, so I stayed behind in case Nicky showed up. I sat out back on the swing bench thing, since it was dark inside still, when I saw someone running frantically towards the house. As they got closer I noticed it was Nicky and immediately stood up.

"What? What's going on?" She stopped in front of me and bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

"V-Vash! I'm glad you're okay, but we gotta go! There are zombies!" I looked at her face and started laughing.

"Pfft, are you serious Nicky? Did you do this all to creep me out?"

"No! I'm serious I swear! They were right behind… uh…Vash! Turn around!" Doing as she said, I flipped around to come face to face with a gruesome site of a half-decaying corpse. l

"What the fuck?" I shrieked and backed up quickly, nearly hitting Nicky. She instantly latched onto me in fear and I couldn't do anything but hold her back. "Shit, this is it." I could hear Nicky sniffling beside me as the zombie approached. Once it was within arms-length I saw my life flash before my eyes.

"CUT!" The zombie then stopped and stood up correctly, smiling creepily at us.

"Wow you guys are great actors. What company are you with?" I blinked slowly, trying to comprehend what just happened.

"Uh… what?" Nicky voiced from beside me, releasing her hold. Another group of people stepped out from a large grove of trees besides the cabin along with Pein and the rest of the ninja guys. A man in a blue hat stepped forward and held out his hand to each of us.

"Hello I'm the director. It seems like we had a bit of a mix up. We assumed we were the only people on this mountain, and when some of the zombie actors saw you guys, they thought it was part of a scene. But let me say, you guys were fantastic! Is it all right if we use the footage and just add a part where you're being killed? And sorry about the electricity. Some of the guys blew a fuse and I guess it affected the power lines around here." Nicky just nodded slowly, still not sure what was happening while I just gave him an incredulous look.

"What? Seriously? You scared the shit out of us! And why are you filming this at night anyway?" He just shrugged.

"We needed some night footage in the mountains and we're sorry about that. We're prepared to pay you two hundred dollars apiece for your participation." I sighed and looked to Nicky who was completely out of it, collapsed in Spirit's arms who had randomly ended up next to her. The rest of the guys were also nearby, some laughing at the footage one of the camera people were showing them.

"This… this sucks!" _I can't wait to go home. I knew this would end badly._ "Fuck this. I better have that money soon. I'm going to bed its 3am." I grabbed Nicky from Spirit and dragged her with me to the house, in hopes that tomorrow would be less stressful.

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Don't ya just love zombies? :P


	15. Ninjas and Waffles and Dreams, Oh My!

**Foosha: **Hey guys sorry it's two days late. It's been hectic this week. :T But! Here it is~! More plot stuff in the next chapter. See if you guys can figure out who is who in this little mix up chapter! This one was also for fun. :P

**Nicky: **Foosha doesn't own Metal Gear Solid (or Snake if you even notice the reference), Wizard of Oz or any other random things she forgot.

**Vash: **I think this dream would be more accurate for you.

**Nicky: **Psh everyone has weird dreams, Vash. Just not always about that kind of stuff...

**Vash: **Right...

**Foosha: **Thank-you Chillybean, Yuti-Chan, DeeaE and Magpie of Shiny Quotes for the reviews! And the rest of you for the faves! I'll try to update as soon as I can but I can't count on Sunday exactly since I work all weekend. :T Anyways, enjoy!

**Nicky: **Annnnnnnnd go!

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><p><strong>Nicky's POV<strong>

"Iiiiiiiiit's waffle time! !" I did a few unnecessary stretches as I waited in front of the toaster oven for my dear waffles to complete their toasting cycle. For once, I was up before the Akatsuki, that or they were running around the cabin somewhere up to their normal sneakiness. _I wonder what they do anyway. Ninja dance party? Bahaha… that was stupid. Yeah it was. Shut up you….me…whatever. _

"_Ding!_" I jumped back from the toaster oven in alarm, until I realized what happened.

"Wahh! Garrr…. Every stupid time that stupid sound scares me. Even when I expect it! What's up with that?"

"Boo." And as with the toast, I jumped a second time, slamming my back into the counter painfully.

"Oww…"

"Sorry kiddo, are you okay?" I peeked at the figure to see a blurry blue color in front of me. Now knowing it wasn't a crazy toast demon, I let my eyes open up all the way. The shark man just stood there with a confused expression. "Hellooo?"

"Ah! Sorry! I spaced out. I'm okay, I just hit my back." I relaxed a little and returned to preparing my waffle stack. He made no motion to speak, and I felt slightly awkward, so I decided to initiate the conversation. "So…. whatcha doin'? I thought everyone was asleep?" He chuckled deeply and I shivered. _I think out of all the guys, he intimidates me the most, even though he seems pretty nice._

"Yeah, it's unusual for us to sleep in," _so they did sleep in! Ha! _"Those of us who sleep at least… But we were just about to go train. Didn't you say you wanted to watch?"

"Oh! Yeah definitely! Are you guys going out now? If so we'll have to leave Vash. She doesn't wake up until 12 at the earliest… and since we were up 'til like three this morning, she would not be happy even if I waited that long. So... let me finish my waffles and then I'll come outside." He just nodded and left, leaving me wondering why they were wearing their cloud dresses. _Those robes seem kinda bulky to be moving around in… wonder if they're just more comfortable in them? Or maybe they are self-conscious? Aww… poor guys... But… I somehow doubt it's that… or is it? Now I've just confused myself. _I shrugged it off and stuck a waffle in my mouth, too hungry to worry about syrup after being interrupted.

"Morning, un," Foofy called casually as he entered the kitchen, stealing one of my waffles and stuffing it in his mouth. I frowned and kicked him in the shin, receiving an annoyed look in return. "Do you think you're actually doing anything to me when you do that, yeah?"

"Well… it makes me feel better, yeah!" His eye twitched.

"Are you mocking me, hm?"

"Pfft no, hm. Why in the world would I do that, yeah?"

"Why you-"

"Shut up brat. Leave the child be, we need to train." I glared at Spirit's face as he stood in the hallway. _I am not a child! _

"Hey jerk face!" His eyes slid over to me. "Have a waffle and shut up!" Being impulsive, which I was doing a lot lately, I grabbed another waffle from my stack and threw it in the red head's direction. It fell lamely to the floor a few feet in front of him. _God damnit. _I stomped my feet a few times and whipped around so I wasn't looking at either of them, trying to hide the redness of my face.

"Oh I see. That was aimed at me, wasn't it?" _Jerk. I can feel him smirking! Smirking! I thought he had no emotions that asshole! Grrrr… why do they frustrate me so?_

"Pffft! Hahahaha! She'd be a terrible ninja, yeah!" That was all I could take before I had to retort with something.

"Don't you guys have ninja things to do? Now go away! Leave me and my waffles alone." I heard some snickering and footsteps before the sound of a door in the distance slamming shut. A sigh escaped my lips before nibbling on a corner of a waffle. "Stupid stupidheads. When will the embarrassment end for me? Argh…"

**In the Forested Area Nearby…**

Once I had finished cleaning up the mess of waffles, and eating the rest, I changed into some jeans and a gray shirt and had Toon Link on it, grabbing a coat on the way out just in case it was cold. And thank goodness I did for as soon as I opened the door I was met with a rush of cold wind.

"Gah! It's summer not fall! Sheesh!" The sky was relatively clear that day despite the cold chill, though. And as I walked around, I forgot how much I had missed this atmosphere. "Aww… I wanna live in the mountains again. I love this place too much! I know! I'll get my Biology degree and move up here and buy some Husky's! And kittens! And I'll have hot chocolate every day and ski and sled and doodle and study wolves or deer or something!" Caught up in the thoughts of my fantasy I didn't notice I walked into a clearing until something narrowly missed my nose, surprising me enough to make me fall on my backside. "WAHHH WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Idiot girl, be more aware of your surroundings." I slowly turned my head to the right to see the Akatsuki staring at me, Pein standing ahead of the rest, his arms folded tightly. Slow the feel the reality of what just happened, I just blinked at him obliviously.

"Oh I was looking for you guys."

"We were aware of that, but you could have just died had you been walking faster. We can't sense you because you have no chakra. Remember that." I swallowed and looked up towards the tree I had walked by to see a very sharp looking, diamond-shaped knife thing stuck in it.

"Uh… y-yeah okay. Um… where do you want me to sit then?"

"Probably behind us, stupid bitch." _Ugh I forgot about Marshmallow. _

"Marshmallow, no one likes you, so shut up," I replied in irritation, tired of dealing with the teasing and just plain rudeness of some. Nonetheless, I did as he so nicely suggested and stood up, walking over to the area behind them and taking a seat on a random stump. "All right, commence!" I instructed, hoping to get back into my normal mood. Some shrugged and they all went back to training. Even Marshy didn't talk back. They spread out among the trees, splitting into their usual pairs, and began to spar. _Wow they are like crazy quick. Oh my gosh! I'm suddenly reminded of the episode of Dragon Ball Z where Goku and them enter a regular human tournament and kick ass! Idea! I should have one of them enter a tournament so they can win money to pay me back! I mean, if they just gave me stolen money…. Police can track that, can't they? And it would be awesome to see them knock those over-confident fighters down a notch. Bwahaha… _

At first I was completely overwhelmed, but after a few minutes I was able to pick up on some of the individual moves them performed. They each had their own styles that reflected their personalities quite well. All very unique. _I wonder what my style would be…_

"Okay. Let's work on some simple jutsus that won't cause too much attention. Girl." I looked towards Pein, who I assumed was referring to me. "You said you want to learn some techniques, correct? Let's see what you can do. Konan, make sure everyone else stays on task." Konan nodded and walked to where I had been sitting while I stood next to Pein, completely terrified of what exactly I'd have to do. _I didn't think ninja stuff would look so hard, but it does. I'll die!_

"Uh… maybe it would be easier for you to not teach me anything. I think I'd be a bad student." He put a hand up to silence me.

"You wanted to try it, so you will. Be thankful that I'm using my time to teach you this."

"Ugh fine. You know, you remind me of my tennis coach, except… more metal-y." He ignored my comment and walked towards me, handing me a knife thing.

"Throw this at that tree. Try to aim near the branch in the middle." I gave him a look of disbelief.

"Seriously? You're just going to give me a knife and say "go for it"? I can barely throw a ball much less something that could potentially harm someone!" He gave me a flat look and I sighed. "Fine. Just don't get mad if I hurt someone." I exhaled loudly, trying to calm my nerves. _Ugh I always work myself up for things that don't matter. Stop that brain! Stop that! Okay ready…. aim… go!_

I lined up the knife with the tree as well as I could, before pulling back and hurling the object towards its destination. There was a "thunk" and the sound of rustling. I glanced around and realized that somehow I had managed to throw the knife completely diagonal to the original stop point.

"Uh… how does that happen?" Pein massaged his temples from beside me, looking somewhat agitated.

"Maybe this is a lost cause after all."

**Meanwhile in Dreamland… (not the Kirby kind btw)**

"_Vash! Come quick!" I looked over to Nicky who called me from a strange doorway where a window usually is. Shrugging off the off feeling I immediately followed her through a dark hallway that soon erupted into a bright light. I winced slightly until the light faded. It revealed a small room in a cottage, and everything was colored in a sepia tone for some reason. Nicky was nowhere in sight._

"_Nicky? Hello? Where did you go?" _

"_I'm right here! Woof!" Confused I look down to where I heard the voice to see a small dog with Nicky's head…. Wait what the fuck? And for some reason, I felt like laughing really hard, so I did. She just frowned, wagging her tail angrily. "Vash! Auntie Chi has been looking for you, woof woof! You slept in too long!"_

"_Slept in? I was just walking down a hall…" I looked down to see I was lying in a bed with strange sleepwear on. "Oh… okay I'll be right there. I guess I was dreaming." Standing up I wandered over to a dresser and retrieved my dress, and some sandals. I braided my hair into two pigtails, blue ribbons attached to each side, and once satisfied, I followed Nicky outside to see Auntie Chi watering some flowers. As if reading my mind she stood up, patting off her skirt and apron. She glanced at me as I approached, her dark hair in a bun and the lines on her face revealing her old age. At least I thought she was old. _

"_There you are Vash," she said in her monotone, and strangely manly, voice. "Miss Saso is coming by today." _

"_Ughhh…. Not her."_

"_Just be on your best behavior, and keep Nicky close." Nicky growled in response. Suddenly we heard the sound of a bicycle as it approached, carrying none other than Miss Saso herself. She stopped in front of us and glared angrily, going on about how Auntie Chi had made her wait for something, and then I tuned her out, until I heard her scream. _

"_Get this mongrel off of me!" Nicky had managed the latch herself onto Miss Saso's arm. I easily pulled her off, holding her close. Maybe I should have been watching her more closely. Miss Saso was fuming, squawking about more nonsense I didn't want to hear, until she pried Nicky out of my hands, stuffing her in a picnic basket and riding off with Nicky in tow. _

"_Where is she taking Nicky? You can't let her do that, Auntie Chi!" Auntie Chi just shrugged._

"_I'm sorry Vash." Frustrated I ran straight back into the house and collapsed onto my bed. _

"_What am I going to do now?" _

"_Bark bark, I'm right here!" I blinked and turned around to see Nicky standing by the door panting. "I escaped! But Vash! We need to get to the shelter! There's a tornado com-" A loud crashing sound echoed from outside and unable to think of what to do, I grabbed Nicky and we huddled together near the bed, hoping that we wouldn't die. Suddenly there was a sharp blow to my head, and my vision faded to black._

**Nicky's POV**

"I GOT IT YEEEEEEEEEE! DID YOU SEE THAT? DID YOU! I HIT THE TREE AND IT ACTUALLY STAYED! Even though it wasn't in the right spot, that's still AWESOME!"

"I think… we should take a break." _Plop._

"Aw… it fell… damnit."

**In Dreamland**

"_Hey wake up! Woof!" I cracked my eyes open, seeing Nicky sitting near me looking frazzled. "Look outside!" I sat up and adjusted my glasses, gazing out a window near me to see a crazy amount of wind blowing, with cows and all sorts of random objects flying about._

"_What the hell is happening?" The ground suddenly jolted violently beneath us as we came to a crash landing. I coughed and waved a hand to rid the air near me of dust and debris. Before I could begin to wonder where Nicky was, she magically appeared beside the front door, barking frantically and spinning in circles. _

"_Here here!" Completely disregarding the strange event that occurred with little worry, I stood up and brushed myself off before following Nicky out the front door and into a land of color. _

"_Whoa. Where are we?" _

"_Oh that's easy, Vash. You're in Wonder- er… The Land of… uh…?" I jumped, startled and blinked at the blue-haired woman dawned in pink standing beside me. She twirled her wand in her hand absent-mindedly. _

"_The Land of Uh?"_

"_Yeah… oh! Look! You fell on her!" I looked to where she was pointing underneath the house to see two legs sticking out with sparkly high-heeled shoes. Suddenly the legs disintegrated, leaving only the slippers. _

"_Uh… whoops. Who was she? And who are you?" _

"_Oh how silly of me, I am the Good Witch Konda. Or… Glinan. And that was The Evil Witch of the East; Deidia. But you killed her, so I suppose you should take her magical shoes." I glanced at the shoes the Good Witch now held in her sparkly grasp. _

"_Uh… I don't wear high heels." Blinking for only a moment, the shoes disappeared from her hands and reappeared onto my feet, shiny and uncomfortable as ever. She smiled softly._

"_See? They look nice on you. Now that the witch is dead, the Zetkins are now free!" I frowned._

"_Zetkins?" Suddenly there was a roar of cheers that echoed throughout the colorful, and smaller than usual, city. This was accompanied by a mass of stampeding plant people that erupted from little homes, surrounding me and Nicky in seconds. They looked like small clones of one another. Half black and half white, with green hair and a strange plant-like appendage that made them oddly charming in a way. "Hi…?"_

"_You did it! You killed her!" Chirped one while the rest applauded and proceeded to break out into several different strange songs that seemed completely off key, but cute nonetheless. "Well all right then."_

_No sooner had the celebration started that it was stopped completely when a whirl of ominous smoke appeared before the crowd. The Zetkins immediately scattered while Nicky, the Good Witch and I just stood our ground. When the smoke cleared, a ghastly looking (not to mention manly), white haired woman was revealed. Her pinkish/purplish eyes narrowed dangerously at me. She was terrifying. _

"_Well well what the fuck do we have here?"_

"_Hidana, the Evil Witch of the West. What are you doing here?" The white haired witch huffed and walked to the dead witch's body, only to whip around and glare at us._

"_Where are the slippers? Those are mine!" Konda shrugged and nonchalantly gestured to my feet. _

"_You mean those slippers? They belong to Vash now." Hidana fumed and gnashed her teeth viciously. _

"_Well I outta kill that bitch then-"_

"_Your powers don't work in Zetkin Land, don't you remember? I suggest you leave." The evil witch scowled, and then smiled at me creepily. _

"_I'll fucking get you, bitch… and your weird-ass dog too!" She cackled and left in the same smoke. It was silent for a moment, before I realized something. I turned to Konda. _

"_So… how do I get out of this place?" She placed a hand to her cheek in thought._

"_You need to seek the mysterious Wizard of Uh. He resides in Sapphire City. Now go! Follow that gold-plated road and you will reach him in no time!" I turned towards the glowing road after waving goodbye to the good witch and Zetkins, and started on my journey with Nicky trotting at my side. _

"_These guys must be extremely rich."_

**Nicky's POV**

"I… *pant* can't…. *cough* go on!" Weakly I reached towards the hem of Pein's robe only to have him back up a few feet.

"Pathetic girl, you merely ran a mile yet you are this out of breath. Itachi, try sparing with her. I'm done and I don't want her bothering me anymore." And with that he swiftly turned around and disappeared, leaving me sprawled on the ground, chest in pain with every breath. I groaned loudly, allowing my face to smush against the dirt. "Mmf mmmm mll."

**With Vashy-Vash**

_We walked for a while until we came across a field that was filled with crows. A lone scarecrow stood in the field. Curious, I motioned Nicky to follow me to inspect it. Once close enough, I realized it was quite an odd looking thing. He was donned in a round orange mask with one eyehole, and the rest of him was covered in the traditional scarecrow-ish outfit. Nicky approached him cautiously, sniffing occasionally when the thing suddenly moved. She yipped and jumped back, while I was just frozen. Scarecrows were creepy. Eck. _

"_Oh! Hellooo! Tobi is a scarecrow! A scarecrow without a brain! Who is braided girly?" _

"_Oh. I'm Vash. How are you alive if you don't have a brain?" The boy (man?) just giggled excitedly and bounded up to me. _

"_Oh silly girly, Tobi is a scarecrow! But Tobi wants a brain. Can you help Tobi?" _

"_Well… I'm going to see a wizard who's supposed to help me back home… I guess he could probably help you with your… problem." He clapped excitedly and proceeded to pick Nicky up, much to her dismay, and follow behind me as I started back on the trail. _

"_Tobi wants to sing a song! Tobi's going to see a wizard! The good wizard that will give Tobi a brain! Tobi is getting a brain from the good wizarrrrrrrd!" _

"_TOBI SHUT UP!" _

"_OKAY~!" _

**Nicky's POV**

"You aren't watching me. Try again." I blew some hair out of my face and pulling at my shorts in anxiety.

"That's because you're making me nervous. You scare me."

"Hn…"

"Sigh. Fiiiiiiine." For the past two hours I had been working with Itachi on basic blocking, and I was doing better than when I started… but not by much. I almost cried a few times when he knocked me over, but I held it in and kept going! I never do that! _And I'll have awesome bruises tomorrow! Yeah!_

_WHAM! _Annnnnd down I went. _That's what I get for paying attention, owie. _

"Now I can see why Pein was so frustrated…"

"Shut up."

**Vash Time!**

_Over the course of our walk, brainless scarecrow, Nicky and I had come across two other "unfortunate" individuals; a scaredy-lion and a heartless metal shark man. Now we were all headed to Sapphire City. _

"_I'm scared. I'd feel better if you let me hold your money," the lion/man hinted to me. He looked and acted like a normal lion, except for the stitching patterns etched all over his fur, his ability to talk, and his strange obsession with money. _

"_Let's keep going so I can get my heart, and brainless boy can get a bit smarter," replied the metal man with a chuckle. I sighed loudly. _

"_How do I end up in these situations? I just want to go home with my human-faced dog." Nicky barked in agreement, after finally wiggling free from scarecrow's grasp. _

"_Hey! It's there! It's there! Look!" Scarecrow screamed wildly. Everyone looked towards where he pointed to see a brightly lit blue city. Thank god. I ran ahead of the group, eager to finally leave this crazy place. _

"_That must be it! Finally, let's go!" _

_When we arrived inside the main building, we were met by an ominous floating kitten head. Nicky growled angrily at the… thing. _

"_WHAT DO YOU WANT?" It boomed loudly, shaking the building and nearly knocking me over. _

"_We heard you could grant some wishes. So… could you do that?" The others nodded in agreement beside me, looking hopeful. The cat head scoffed._

"_PERHAPS IF YOU BRING ME THE EVIL WITCH'S BROOMSTICK I WILL GRANT YOU THESE WISHES." I groaned. _

"_Ugh fine. We'll be right back." _

**Nicky's POV **

At around three o'clock I decided to stop kidding myself. I would never be a ninja. The thought depressed me greatly. _At least I actually got exercise today though… and I have evidence to prove it! That or someone just beat me up. _I decided to soak in the Jacuzzi for a while and then try to wake up Vash. _It's already three. That's plenty of time for her to sleep in. Twelve hours-ish worth!_

"Hey move the fuck over blonde bitch. We're all getting in." I turned my head to see the Akatsuki, besides Pein, Itachi and Konan, standing by the sliding door in random swim trunks. _Ugh… just what I need. _

"Can't you guys like…run to someone else's Jacuzzi? It'll be pretty cramped if you all try to sit in here." _Not to mention extremely uncomfortable for me. _Foofy laughed in that obnoxious voice of his. _For some reason it just started really bugging me lately._

"Hell no, hm. You'll just have to deal with it, yeah." He roughly pushed me to one side of the hot tub and got in while the rest just followed his example, except for the pushing me part. _Asshole. Thank goodness I decided to wear clothes over my swimsuit again, or I'd die of embarrassment. Never in my life would I ever have imagined myself in a situation such as this one. It's almost unbelievable…except that it happened. Having these strange people with us I mean, but I guess being in a hot tub with a bunch of guys is also something I never expected. I'm surprised I'm so calm right now actually. Blech. But…_

"This still sucks. You guys better not pee in the water or anything, or I'll stick something _fun _in your next meal."

**After Defeating the Witch and Flying Rin Monkeys and Francesca Soldiers…**

"_It probably wasn't necessary to kill all the monkeys and soldiers… they willingly gave us the broom and were thanking us for killing the witch. By the way, good thinking bringing that random cup of water, Scarecrow. Apparently that's all it took to melt her away. Thank goodness you're a brainless idiot who trips easily." I looked back to said idiot and he just continued skipping along. A growl erupted from the lion._

"_They burned the money trying burn that stupid scarecrow… they had to die." The metal man also nodded in agreement._

"_Yeah I enjoy killing. That's probably why I need a heart." I gave him a flat look and he just shrugged. _

"_Well," I continued, "Let's get this over with then before you murder us all." _

"_Bark! Bark! I'll tear that cat apart!" Suddenly Nicky dashed in front of the group and ran into the wizard's building. We were quick to catch up, and immediately observed Nicky jump at the kitten head and go right through it, landing on the other side. I blinked, confused._

"_Uh… it's fake then?" The others nodded slowly. Nicky started to sniff the air and ran towards a medium-sized box in the corner of the room. She barked at it, nudging it with her head. "What's this?" I lifted the box up to find a guy with brunette slicked back hair, and army-type suit and a bandana around his head. He looked at me with a blank face. _

"_You never saw me!" He screeched and snatched the box from me, skipping away from where we stood and out the door. Nicky huffed. _

"_Whoops. I meant to go over here, woof." She trotted over to a curtain and pulled it back, revealing a red/orange haired male with a metal face. Like it was seriously metal. Weird. He was huddled in front of some sort of voice projection contraption and looked bewildered to see us. I decided to confront the strange man. _

"_Are you the wizard? I just want to get out of the crazy place. And that guy needs a brain, that one needs a heart, and that one needs… bravery? I think." The wizard cleared his throat. _

"_You see, I foresaw you coming here. And you already possess the things you thought you lacked. Except for you, pigtails. You still aren't home. I was actually born in your town, and I'd be willing to take you home." _

"_Oh well… awesome. Let's go then. This place is kinda creepy. Actually you're pretty creepy, too." He frowned but ignored my comment and led me outside. _

"_You three can keep watch over the place while I'm gone. Except for the scarecrow. Keep him outside." The other two gave a thumbs up and grabbed Scarecrow by his arms, flinging him out a random window._

"_WEEEEEEE!" _

_I followed the wizard to town square where random people I met on this strange journey waved at me. The wizard directed me to a hot air balloon as he stepped inside. I followed after along with Nicky. The wizard turned to me with a serious look. _

"_We're going to take off now, but first I need to ask you… what happened to your clothes?"_

"_What?" I looked down at myself to see I was in a t-shirt and only underwear. Suddenly the evil witch Hidana was standing next to the balloon laughing at me, along with the lion, the good witch and a human version of Nicky. I glared at Nicky and she just laughed. What a strange déjà vu moment. _

"_Sorry Vash, that was just funny. Now make me some cookies and we can go home!" I glanced around._

"_I can't, there's no oven! Are you listening?" _

"_Vash! Make me cookies! VAASSHHHH!"_

**Nicky's POV**

I had finally decided it was time to wake up Vash, but it wasn't working. So I started talking to her about random stuff and then started shaking her while repeating her name.

"… that's hard to say after a while-" Suddenly she bolted up in bed, barely missing hitting my head.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT WOMAN I DON'T HAVE AN OVEN!" I remained frozen with my arms outstretched while I stared at her. She was panting and looked confused when she realized where she was. "Oh… hey Nicky." And… I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"BAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT KIND OF DREAMS ARE YOU HAVING? HAHAHAHA! You slept all day only to be dreaming about not having an oven? Pfft hahaha." She sighed and laughed lightly.

"Yeah I don't really know what that dream was about. All I remember was… you were a dog… and MaskBoy got thrown out a window…" I gave her a pat on the head and she swatted my hands away.

"Well come on. Let's go do something fun before we have to leave tomorrow. The guys are in the hot tub still so we have the house to ourselves! And I really want some cookies for some reason. She chuckled and stood up, grabbing her glasses from the night stand.

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>I hope you guys like it. I'm kinda lacking sleep right now so... I really have no idea. =_= lol


	16. The Predicament of Predicaments

**Foosha: **Sorry everyone. It's been like... ugh.. I don't even have words to describe it. So I'll have Vash sum it up.

**Vash: **6 midnight releases. Chemistry test that she most likely failed. Visiting family. Loads of homework. Etc.

**Foosha: **Don't worry though! School ends in a few weeks and things should be more regular! I have a three week Christmas vacation! Awesome! So until then I'll try to update when I can but I gotta study too!

**Nicky: **Foosha doesn't own the Akatsuki, Francesca, Rin or... hmm I don't think there are any other references in here besides Okamiden or DS's. So Nintendo stuff, too.

**Foosha:** And thanks for all the alerts you guys! You make me feel really special : P Special thanks to Miko Hayashi, Chillybean, Dust Bunnies Anonymous, Yuti-Chan, Crazier Than Hell, and DeeaE for the reviews! I really appreciate the support and feeback : D

**Vash: **3, 2, 1... go!

* * *

><p>The next day we arrived home around noon. Exhausted by the drive, Vash and I eagerly jumped out of our vehicles and ran towards the house. My duffle bag bounced roughly against my thigh, and eventually hit hard enough that it knocked me over, flat on my face. A weight dropped on my back and I could hear Vash groan.<p>

"Ugh… Why did you stop?" I coughed and tried to wriggle free.

"It wasn't my intention… blahhhh I just wanna go inside! Vash, we need to invent teleportation!"

"Nicky? Vash?" I blinked and looked up to see Jen standing over us. Her face held an unfamiliar expression, one that didn't settle well with me.

"Oh… hey Jen. Uh, what's up?"

"Can I talk to you guys for a bit? Alone?" She nodded her head at the guys before walking back to the house. _We are so dead. Sooo very dead. She must know. She has to know. Oh shit. I bet she talked to Rin's mom or something. Somehow she knew. Maybe Rin told? Or the crazy stalker neighbor? Shit shit shit shit. Now what?_ Vash removed herself from my back, pulling me up along with her and following Jen to the top floor of the house. I shot a glance to the guys who stared, confused. I held up a finger to say "wait". _Hopefully they understood that… _

"Nicky, come on," Vash called from ahead. I sighed and turned around to follow her. _Relax. You're just overthinking this. It's probably just about something simple. Yeah… simple. Like… mail or something._

**Inside Jen's Home**

"Have a seat, girls."

I swallowed and took a shaky seat with Vash on the couch that sat opposite of Jen. _Oh god I'm even more nervous now! What's going to happen? _Casting a discrete look towards Vash, I noticed she was also nervous, though she appeared calm. I could tell by the slight fidgeting of her fingers. The atmosphere was quiet for a moment until Jen grabbed a bag from beside the armrest.

"I got your mail for you," she said, handing Vash the bag of two whole letters. _Phew! It was something silly! See? No need to worry! Got all worked up for nothin'. _"And… I didn't want to do this to you girls, but I'm going to have to kick you out." _WHAT THE FUUU? _Vash interrupted my raging thoughts.

"Wait, why? I'm not sure what we've done to justify that…" _Yeah especially since we're step-sisters! STEP-SISTERS! DOES THAT MEAN NOTHING TO YOU? Boohoo…_ Jen sighed and crossed her legs, leaning back against the cushions to get comfortable. She seemed so much older in that moment. And tired. Not the Jen who likes to go out and be active and watch sports and Star Wars all the time with her son.

"Well… I was talking to Sarah Evans-" _Rin's mom… _"-and she mentioned how it was unusual for someone to rent out such a small space to so many people. Especially when they were all at such a young and "wild" age. Do you girls have anything to say about that?" _Quick Nicky! Think up something! Anything! Just say something!_

"Oh! Uh-"

"It's a complicated situation. Long story short, they are old friends of ours and have no other place to go, so we thought it would be okay for them to stay with us for a little while," Vash replied, interrupting my, most likely terrible, lie. Jen looked thoughtful for a moment, while I remained silent, picking at my fingernails until I noticed what I was doing. _Argh! No! Bad Nicky! You're supposed to stop messing with your fingers, remember? Bad habit._

"Well… You're either going to have to help them find some place to stay, or you all will have to find another place to stay. I'm sorry, but I just don't like the thought of that many people living down there." Vash and I nodded slowly.

"Can we go talk to them about it then? We'll let you know our decision when we're done."

"Sure. Just tell me within the hour, because I have to go back to work later." And with that we were indirectly dismissed, filing ourselves out of the house and back onto the lawn where the rest of the guys stood waiting. Konan stepped forward to meet us.

"What's going on? Vash? Nicky?" I barely heard her, lost in my own fog of anxiety. _What are we going to do? We can't just kick them out… and we can't expect them to live on their own either! I mean… one of them is bound to pull something stupid to get them caught if that happens! But… what else can we do? Leave with them? What would grandma say? Would she continue to pay my rent or will we have to find our own source of income? She'd definitely not be happy if she found out I was living with a bunch of guys… _

"Nicky!" I blinked and saw everyone was waiting impatiently for my reply to something. Smiling sheepishly, I laughed.

"Uh… what was the question?" I'm sure had this been a less dire situation, Vash would have face-palmed at that, but she just remained serious.

"Nicky… what should we do?"

"Well… uh… we can't just kick them out," I rubbed the back of my neck and looked down at the ground. "…that just doesn't seem right so… I guess we have no choice but to find another place…"

"Even when you say that… what will our parents say? I'm sure they talk to Jen occasionally. So when she tells them about what happened…"

"Yeah… but what else can we do right now?" Everyone was quiet until Pein came forward.

"We will find a new place to stay." _So glad you could clear that up for us. I didn't know we had to leave, insert extreme sarcasm here. _Tobi hopped from the back of the group.

"Yes! And Tobi will help girlies carry all their stuff!"

"Yeah. I'll help too," Kisame agreed. Some of them nodded their heads slowly, and I was happy that we made a nice enough impression on them that they were willing to help us out. That or it would be too annoying for them to try to live on their own in an unfamiliar world. I smiled faintly to Vash, who returned the gesture.

"Well, I'll go tell Jen our decision then. I'm sure she will let us keep our stuff here for a few days until we find a place to stay. Nicky, keep an eye on them." Giving her a lazy thumbs up as she walked back to the house, I turned back to the group with less enthusiasm than usual. I felt emotionally drained for some reason. _Probably the crazy trip on top of this serious decision has me stressed. Days like this I wish I could take a loooonnnng bubble bath. Yeah… and maybe we'll even find a place with a bath! That would be nice._

"Nicky." Coming back to my senses, once again, I noticed Pein was trying to talk to me.

"Oh… whoops. What is it?" But before he could continue, I realized something that suddenly excited me to no end, making a grin spread across my face. I pointed at him. "You said my name! You didn't call me "girl" or "you", you actually said "Nicky"! Hahaha! Awesome!" I almost hugged him. ALMOST. But I caught myself. He looked less than amused at my outburst anyway.

"As I was saying, I think someone is spying on us from the window of that house over there. Anyone you know?" I squinted in the direction he was looking and could see a face, but couldn't tell who it was exactly.

"Oh god, un. It's that weird girl, yeah," Foofy groaned, backing up farther from said home. _Hmm… I wonder._

"I wonder if she lives alone…" I voiced my question. The rest of the group picked up on what I was implying and all stared at Foofy. He blinked at us and then held up his hands in an "x" shape.

"Hell no, yeah!" _Inner me says to troll. Outer me says to be nice. What to do?_

"Oh I'm glad you agree! Aren't you guys?" A few of them nodded while Foofy just turned red in anger.

"What the fuck, hm? I never said yeah, yeah!" I leaned towards Cal who was standing on my right, and covered my mouth with my hand as if to whisper something to him, but talked in a normal tone of voice.

"He must really like her if he just used a double-positive. I've never even heard of someone using a double-positive!"

"I SAID "I NEVER SAID YEAH, YEAH" HM!"

"So… you forgot to add the no? Is that why I'm confused?"

"I SAID NEVER! THAT MEANS NO WAY IN HELL, EVER, YEAH!"

"So… to make me understand… you did indeed forget to add a "no" to that sentence?"

"Fuck, sure, hm. As long as you understand what the no means, yeah."

"I get it. You meant, "I never said no, yeah yeah!" Right? Well I think it's clear to see who should go ask her for a place to stay. Foofy get on over there!"

"Hell no-"

"Deidara. Go now. Or else," Pein threatened in that scary/monotone voice of his. Foofy just grumbled to himself before walking over to the crazy lady's house. There was a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see Vash.

"What's up?"

"Jen says they need to be out by tonight, but we can leave our stuff there for as long as we need to while we're looking for a place to stay. She just doesn't want them there," Vash answered, following my gaze on Foofy who appeared to be conversing with the girl at her doorstep. "So… why is he talking to Francesca?"

"Well… we're hoping maybe he can get us a place to stay…" From the corner of my eye I saw Foofy and Francesca make their way over to us. She was blushing somewhat while he had his usual look of annoyance. No one made a move to speak.

"Hey Francesca," Vash started, probably feeling more obligated to talk to her since she was the only person here who kinda knew her. "I'm not sure what he told you, but we're in a bit of trouble and need a place to stay for a bit until we can find a more permanent arrangement. And we were wondering…"

"Of course you guys can stay here! I already told Deidei that," the girl replied happily, playing with her long brown hair. _Wait a second… how does she know his name? _Vash was thinking the same thing apparently.

"Hang on… how do you know his-"

"Well don't just stand out here, let's go inside! I have room for everyone!"

We shrugged off Francesca's stalker-ness and followed everyone else into her home.

**Francesca's House**

It's been about an hour since we've settled into our temporary home. Francesca gave us a quick tour and showed us the basement which held four bedrooms and a decent sized living room with a couch. That's where we would be staying. We decided to figure out sleeping arrangements later and lounged around for a while. The Akatsuki had to be extra careful now that they were around someone who didn't know about their ninja identities. Kisame, Kakuzu and Cal all hid their obvious abnormalities. _Maybe she already noticed their strangeness before though while stalking Foofy and just didn't care._ _Best not to think too much into it, probably. _

I decided sprawl myself across the couch downstairs and play Okamiden to try to take my mind off the fact that I had to find a new home. It was somewhat helping. _Yeah but as soon as it's night time that's all I'm going to think about. Ugh. _

"Hey, what are you playing? **Is it like that stupid monkey in a ball game?**" I tilted my head backwards to see Cal sitting on the armrest.

"Where's everyone else?" He shrugged in response and snatched my DS from me.

"**How do I play this stupid device?**" I crossed my arms snuggly.

"Well I won't tell you if you're going to talk like that. You have to be nice, evil side. And you have to answer my question."

"He can't control himself sometimes. I'm sorry. What is your question?" I adjusted my position so I was now sitting up, cross-legged, facing him.

"What do you like to do?" He looked confused for a moment.

"**What do you mean, girl?**" I sighed and gave him a flat look.

"Like… what do you do for fun? In your free time? Like… a hobby I guess? I'm very curious about what ninjas do."

"I don't have free time really. Besides we have different interests.** It would be stupid to try to have hobbies. We have better things to do.**" While talking, his expression became more agitated by the second as his brow furrowed in concentration on the game in front of him.

"That kinda sucks. I think I'd die if I didn't have free time or things to do during free time. Isn't there something both of you like?" Both sides were thoughtful for a moment.

"Well… we both enjoy human flesh." My eye twitched.

"Oh… that's right. You're like a zombie-ish plant man, right?"

"**Would you like to be my next meal? I am pretty hungry right now…**" Instinctively, I backed away from him, even though he didn't look up.

"Well if you eat me, then I'll never teach you how to play that game." There was a sigh and a reluctant "fine" before I felt the couch sink down beside me. He held the system up to my face and I took it gently. "All right, here's how it works…"

**Vash's POV**

"So you don't mind us staying here? It's kind of a hassle, I know, but we'll try to be quick about finding a new place to stay," I informed Francesca as we sat down to drink tea. _Yay tea! I love tea. And coffee. Mmm coffee. _She just shook her head and smiled happily while sipping her beverage.

"No! I don't mind at all!"

"Where the fuck is some food around here?" My eye twitched when I saw the Bitch and Stitches walk into the kitchen, one irritated and the other fuming.

"What the hell do you want?" The Bitch just folded his arms.

"Fuck you short whore, I'm fucking hungry and you bitches aren't doing a thing about it." Francesca turned around to face the Bitch who had made himself right at home on a chair beside us.

"Oh? Who are you?" She asked curiously. Suddenly, the Bitch's expression turned smug and he leaned on the table towards Francesca. _Oh boy… I can see where this is going…_

"I'm Hidan. You're pretty fucking hot." She giggled.

"Well aren't you charming. Hehe." _Ugh I can't sit here any longer. _I quietly excused myself from the table while the Bitch was distracted and scuttled into the front room, sitting down in a chair near the front window.

"So. When can I go back to get my money?" My expression fell when I noticed Stitches' reflection in the glass.

"No one is stopping you from going there now… except for the fact that Jen doesn't want you there. You'll just have to wait." There was a growl and some mumbling before I saw his reflection disappear. I sighed.

"Well... nothing too bad could happen at this point that would surprise me." There was a vibration in my pocket and I grabbed my phone, flipping it open to see an unfamiliar number. I answered anyway. "Hello?"

"Hey Vash, it's Rin. Is Nicky there? She isn't answering her phone."

"Uh yeah hang on… how did you get my number?"

"Nicky gave it to me in case she didn't answer her phone."

"Well… I'm worse at answering my phone than Nicky is… I'll go grab her. May I ask why you're calling?"

"…I just wanted to talk to her."

"Well… okay." I stood up and tried to find the door to the basement.

**Nicky's POV**

"Oh my gosh! Please just let me get past this part and you can play after! It's frustrating watching!"

"**Shut the hell up woman! I'm concentrating!"**

"Tobi wants to try! Zetsu isn't very good at this~!"

"Hahaha It looks simple enough. Let me try, Nicky."

"Hold on guys. Let's give him a little more time," I said to the group that had formed behind the couch, disregarding my own impatient comment. Tobi, Kisame and Deidara were completely transfixed with the simple game for some reason.

"Can Tobi play another game, Nicky-chan?" I gave Tobi a sideways glance. _It's kinda weird talking to someone who always wears a mask. I wonder what he looks like. He must be really ugly… or maybe deformed! He could be like the Phantom of the Opera's brother! I want to see… but if he was that deformed, he'd probably get offended and cry. Aww poor guy… _

"Oh what? Uh… I didn't bring any other game systems over Tobi. They're at home. Why don't you ask Vash if she has her DS?"

"It's okay, girly. Tobi found a toy to play with." I probably should have checked what he meant by that, but I found myself too lazy to care and continued to watch the agonizing process of Cal trying to draw a straight line for Chibiterasu to follow.

"Hey Nicky!" I turned around in my spot to see Vash standing on the stairs, her phone outstretched towards me.

"Who's on the phone?"

"It's Rin. She wants to talk to you."

"Nicky-chan! Someone wants to talk to you on your phone too~!" Confused, I shifted my position once more so I could see Tobi, who had my crappy phone in his hand, with some muffled noises coming from it. Vash stomped over to Tobi and snatched my phone from him, putting it up to her ear.

"I'm sorry, he's a child sometimes and doesn't know what he's doing. Who is this?" Her face suddenly went pale. "Wait, what? There's nothing wrong here! …No! He's not the thief that's been going around this area…. He said what? Well he's an idiot! …. I'm not a thief either! He just took my friend's phone! … No! Not like that! No wait-!" She let her arm drop from her ear and looked at me with wide eyes. "Nicky. We have to leave now." I shook with worry and excitement. _Why am I excited? Something is wrong!_

"What… what happened? Who did he call?" She gripped my shoulders, pulling me up with some sort of random strength.

"Nicky… he called 911 somehow. And somehow he hinted to them that he in fact wore a mask and they tracked where he was located. They know he's one of the thieves! They're coming here! Now! We have to go hide!"

"Wha-what? Well let's hurry then! Where?" Vash motioned to the guys standing around us to follow her upstairs while we talked.

"I'm not sure, we need to leave our phones though, or they'll probably find us. Oh! I have an idea!" She stopped mid-stair and put her phone up to her ear and started talking to it. _Oh! That's right! Rin was on the line! Maybe she can help! _ Vash then closed the phone and tossed it on the downstairs couch. _Sorry Francesca. I guess we should have thought this through better… I'm sorry if you get in trouble! _

We all tailed Vash up the stairs, the guys being somewhat generous (except for Deidara and Cal) and let us go up before them. When we emerged from the door, we were met with the site of Smorehead flirting with Francesca. Pein, Konan, Spirit and Itachi random appeared next to them along with Kakuzu. Of course, Pein was the first to speak.

"What's going on?" In a rush of adrenaline I looked to Vash and nodded my head, knowing that she might not understand my intentions, and ran to Pein and Konan, tugging on their wrists towards the front window. I didn't want to alarm Francesca, so I figured it would be easier to bring them away from her. Pointing to Rin's house up the street I looked to the ninja eagerly.

"Can you teleport us to Rin's house with your ninja powers? We're in a very bad situation right now and I'd be happy to tell you about it when we're safe. Right now we need to get over there! Without being seen!" Pein gripped my forearm in a tight lock and I winced.

"What is the meaning of this? What has happened? I order you to tell me."

"Pein. Let's just go. You can interrogate her later, but it's best not to put us into an unnecessary situation." He huffed and relaxed his hold, but kept his hand there. He looked to the rest of the group who had been listening in, and they all disappeared instantly, along with Vash. The only people remaining were Konan, Pein, me, Marshy and Francesca. Pein gave a low growl and Konan immediately went to the albino and pulled on his shirt collar. There was some arguing but Konan won out in the end, pulling him away from the table and saying some reassuring words to Francesca, who was too busy waving at Marshy as he got dragged away. She motioned towards a corner of the front room out of Francesca's vision, where we met up before disappearing ourselves.

_Holy crap! This is terrifying! _ I felt like I was falling, and my stomach had leapt into my throat before suddenly ending up on a familiar hardwood floor. Barely able to steady myself, I gripped tightly to the stable object besides me. I was roughly pushed away and ended up back on the floor.

"Idiot girl. What have you done now?" I shook my head and once my vision adjusted I noticed we were in Rin's dining room. The rest of the members gathered around, with Vash (who was clinging to a chair for the same reason I had been), and Rin who stood near Itachi. She looked surprised, but nonetheless happy to see us. _I guess her mom isn't home… wait now's not the time to be thinking about that! _

"It isn't her fault! It's your idiot member Tobi's fault! He dialed 911 which alerts the police! They can track your call from your location and now they're on their way here! We have to hide you! Now! And no objections or you guys can enjoy getting out of jail yourselves!" There was silence for a moment. Konan spoke from beside Vash.

"We can just use the Transformation Jutsu and disguise ourselves as other things." Now it was time for my paranoia to kick in.

"But what if one of you messes up? Like Tobi! Sorry Tobi but I don't think you could keep your concentration long enough. What if Rin I asked questions or something or they want to interview her and somehow you guys get seen? We should find a hiding place for you and then you can transform into something else. That way we have a backup in case something happens." Konan glanced at Pein who nodded. The smarter ninja jumped away quickly, leaving the slower ones and Vash, Rin and I, dazed. Vash was quick to recover and stood up.

"Hurry. Let's find these idiots good hiding spots so they don't mess everything up. Rin, you're a big girl. You know how to distract the police." Rin seemed slightly traumatized by the sudden action, but nodded anyway. _She should be okay… she's smart. I hope she's okay. Or we go to jail forever!_

We flitted around for a bit before successfully finding a spot for Marshy, Tobi and Deidara (much to his protests). We somehow ended up downstairs as we heard some heavy footsteps and booming voices sound from upstairs. Panicking I grabbed Vash and jumped in the walk-in closet beneath the stairs. _Shit! Rin must have let them in! Someone must have seen us here or something! They aren't allowed to just storm in like that!_

"What are you doing? We should have just acted natural!" Vash fumed while I just tried to move stuff so we could hide at the very back of the closet.

"I'm sorry but if I have to act in a high pressure situation, I'm going to mess up and it will all be for nothing! We have to hide! Now help me!" She didn't say another word and started moving boxes with me.

Once a bit of the ways in, we started moving boxes and clothes back in front of us when we heard someone stomping down the stairs

"Shit!" She hissed. We continued to quietly move boxes, all too aware of the voices that were progressively getting closer to the basement. I shoved a small box out of the way, accidentally knocking over a ceramic doll that sat precariously atop of one of the higher boxes, causing it to land with a crash onto the floor beside me. The movement outside stopped for a moment, before we heard a voice.

"What was that?"

"Oh uh… I have a cat so… it probably got caught in the closet or something.

"Well… we better let this "cat" out then."

_Shit! _I grabbed Vash and pushed her through the small opening I had created in the back of the closet, following close behind. She placed a pillow to cover the hole we crawled through and we sat scrunched up as we could, barely breathing in the dark. _Now I just can't get claustrophobic… sh sh shhhh… calm down Nicky calm down. _

"Meow." Alarmed, I nearly yelped until Vash covered my mouth when we noticed an orange cat beside us. _Where the hell-? Wait! We can use this! _I grabbed the cat carefully and slid the pillow to the side, pushing the animal to the other side in hopes that they would notice that and not go farther into the closet. I sighed internally until I heard a quiet whirring sound behind me. Vash apparently heard it too, as we turned around at the same time to see a vortex. Like an actual vortex! _Did we turn on a projector by accident going through this mess? _Suddenly we heard the door burst open, and some boxes started moving near the front of the mess. Instinctively, I scooted back farther, pulling Vash with me, until I felt the strange sensation of being pulled in. I gripped onto Vash tighter pulling her backwards with me into…darkness…?

_THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! WHAT KIND OF SICK DREAM IS THIS?_

* * *

><p><strong>Foosha:<strong> Sorry it's a cliff-hanger. :T It will continue though! Eventually!_  
><em>


	17. Sand, Sand Everywhere!

******Foosha: **Where do I begin...? Well... it all started with finals, then I found out I was moving out, and then I failed chemistry, and then I got a new job and then... Vash moved in with me! And I got a kitteh! So not all was bad! But I am very very very very very very very very very sorry that I've failed you as an author and I hope you don't hate me too much. I'm trying to get into a routine again!

**Vash: **I'm here to make sure she does exactly that.

**Nicky: **So without further hesitation... here is the update! *throws confetti*

**Vash: **Also, Foosha does not own anybody but us and her craziness, which is very evident in this chapter.

**Nicky: **Let's gooooo!

* * *

><p><strong>Rin's House<strong>

"Well ma'am, it seems you were correct about the cat." The officer mumbled, befuddled, as he held the frightened animal in his arms. Once they encountered the cat in the closet, they realized there was no room left for anyone to be able to fit and gave up their search, much to Rin's relief. _Where are they then? _She had thought, but quickly dismissed the notion when the officer's brought her back to attention.

"We'll leave you alone now. It appears that the tip we received was false. Sorry to have caused a disturbance." Rin just nodded slowly and led the officers up the stairs to the front door. They tipped their hats and left, the last one out handing the calm cat over to Rin before making his exit. The young girl released a shaky sigh, closing the screen door behind them and turning towards the living room.

"That was close," Konan commented as she appeared next to the sofa. The rest of the group began to trickle out of their hiding spots, Pein and Konan leading as usual. Rin glanced around the room, still in a slight daze, but came to her senses when she realized something was off.

"Hey… we need to find Nicky and Vash. They're probably still hiding." The ninja nodded and went their separate ways to look around the house. Rin gripped onto Konan's capris suddenly, a worrisome look on her face. Surprised, Konan just patted her back lightly.

"You were very brave. Nicky would be proud." Rin gave a nervous nod and followed Konan to the basement.

**Elsewhere… Nicky's POV**

"What the… where the hell…?"

Realizing I had been asleep, or unconscious, I willed my eyes to open, though that became nearly impossible when a blinding light flooded my vision.

"Nicky, wake up!"

_Vash? _Once my eyes finally adjusted enough, I was able to focus on a dark figure beside me, which turned out to be a confused looking Vash.

"Oh good, you're okay," she sighed, relieved. I nodded to her and sat up slowly, shaking my head before looking around at my setting.

"Vash… where are we?"

Before us sprawled a blanket of sand in all directions. Nothing but dunes and dust clouds could be seen in the distance, rendering me with a deep feeling of dread filling the pit of my stomach.

Vash looked around as well, as if she noticed her surroundings for the first time. Her eyes grew wide.

"What the hell? Where the fuck are we?" Vash exclaimed loudly, sounding as equally frantic as I was beginning to feel, "Oh shit… my glasses…" I glanced towards her, only somewhat aware of the fact that she was cradling her severely cracked glasses in her hands. My own mind was spinning out of control, forcing me to hold my head to try to steady myself.

_Shit. Here comes the delayed motion sickness. _I leaned over my side to puke, but only a dry cough came out. Suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to meet Vash's worried gaze.

"I'm okay. Just motion sick… give me a second and I'll be okay."

**Ten Minutes Later…**

Once I was confident that I could process things properly, I sat up from my laying position to examine the landscape again. Vash had sat there silently the whole time I had spent calming myself down.

"Okay… let's go over this. We were in Rin's house… and then… then we were hiding… there was a cat…"

"And now we're suddenly in the middle of fucking nowhere? Unless we're having some sort of connected dream, I don't see how the hell this is possible," Vash muttered, squinting her eyes towards my direction. I started to pinch my arm, already knowing for a fact that even if I was in a dream, I'd never actually think of doing that. Suddenly a scary thought drifted into my brain, infecting the rest of my body with violent shaking.

"We aren't though… oh my god. We're stranded! Forever! We're going to die! I don't know any survival skills! I forgot them all!" Suddenly there was a hand on my face.

"Ah sorry… I can't see very well. I meant to pat your shoulder," Vash mumbled, quickly moving her hand to the intended place on my shoulder. "We have to keep calm… or something like that. We just have to… oh my god," she leaned back from me cursing under her breath, "I'm never going to get my pharmacy license! All that fucking work for nothing and I was only a month away! What the hell kind of fate is this?" She suddenly slumped against me, drowning in her failure. Thinking about her words, I realized what we'd really be missing.

"What's going to happen to all our stuff? And our house? What about the kitties? Our families… we'll never see anyone we know again… *sniff sniff*"

Inevitably, tears began to roll down my cheeks. There was a sniffle from beside me and I realized Vash was crying, making me cry harder, for Vash wasn't one to cry easily. The situation was hopeless.

"Here they are."

Startled by the new voice, I jumped slightly away from the sound, stumbling and falling flat on my back. A shadow came over my vision and suddenly hands were upon me. Vash let out some shouts of protest as we were roughly picked up, and carried away from our fate, and into another potentially dangerous situation. _Either we're being kidnapped or saved… though I think they would have actually tried talking to us more if we were being saved. Fuuuuuuuck. We're going to die._

**Meanwhile in the real world…**

"How could they just disappear like that? It doesn't make sense. They wouldn't just leave us," Konan reasoned as they gathered around the small table in Nicky and Vash's basement home. After searching through Francesca and Rin's homes, they realized both Vash and Nicky were completely missing. The group of ninja had left Rin at her own home, telling her to stay in case the missing girls showed up. The Akatsuki on the other hand decided to meet up at Nicky and Vash's basement home to regroup.

"It's too bad that they don't seem to hold chakra, or they would have been found long ago," Sasori grumbled, tapping his fingers in an irritated manner on the couch armrest. "Why do we need them again?" Hidan nodded.

"Yeah, he's fucking right. We don't need those bitches! Let's just destroy this fucking world," he growled, hands balled into fists. Kakuzu whacked the albino upside the head, mumbling in annoyance.

"You idiot. We've already been over the consequences of doing that. Have you forgotten that you have no scythe either?"

"Fuck that. I'll find something else to kill them with!"

The two continued to argue back and forth, Sasori adding his own opinion in occasionally. Pein remained quiet, as if in deep thought, when Tobi appeared by his side.

"Tobi thinks that something happened to the girlies." Deidara scoffed.

"Pfft, how do you know that, hm?"

"Tobi just knows!"

"I agree…" Itachi added. Kisame was also shaking his head in an accepting motion behind the circle of men. Pein glanced between the three who agreed.

"Then… we will have to continue looking. Perhaps… they have stumbled upon the portal by mistake…"

Suddenly, Zetsu emerged through the floor, eyes wide.

"Leader, **we found something**."

**Nicky's POV**

I awoke for the second time that day, though at that moment, I was lying on a cold floor instead of warm sand. _At least I think it's the same day… oh my god… we were kidnapped. _Frantically, I sat up, though slowly so I wouldn't feel ill. Vash was nowhere in sight. It appeared that we had been placed in individual cells, complete with a barred entrance and small window. I scooted back a bit so I could lean on the cool stone wall. A dry laugh escaped my throat as I went over the events that had recently occurred. _How does this even happen to a person? Where the hell am I? _Something wet dripped down my cheek. _…well don't cry stupid! Be strong. Don't get scared. This is probably a big prank. Ahaha… nothing like this really happens to people. This only happens in movies and stories. But then again… a lot of stuff has happened recently that wouldn't happen to normal people...What's going to happen to us? _I put my face in my hands and gave a sniffle before pulling back.

"Ew… my hands…" Looking down, I realized the rest of me wasn't very clean either. Instantly I stood up and tried to dust myself off, suddenly paranoid of what sort of germs were on me. Unable to stop thinking about my cleanliness, I rushed over to the bars and started to shake them (which didn't have much of an effect), talking loudly and hysterically. "Hey! Kidnappers or anyone! I need to wash my hands! I-I'm really dirty right now and I just need to be clean! H-hello?"

There was no sound but the occasional voices that came from the window. _Oh yeah… there's a window. _I was beginning to feel very cramped, so I thought looking out the window could help.

"Wh-what?"

We were in some sort of tall tower, nestled in the center (I presumed) of a seemingly large desert village. Unable to see quite as clearly as I would have liked, I could only observe small, robe-covered blobs making their way through the streets. _Am I… in Egypt? Teleportation? What language do they speak anyway? Huh… guess that isn't too important at the moment…I wonder how I get out of here. God I'm not sure where my mind is right now. Whether I'm sad… or scared… or what. _

"Here's the other prisoner, Lord Kazekage." _Huh? _I turned around in my spot to come eye to eye with a guy in weird robes and a triangular hat. _Do Egyptians have triangular hats? I can't remember! These are important questions!_ _Oooh. He has pretty eyes. _Once I finally realized what I was doing, I blushed and straightened up, and aimed my vision anywhere away from him. The other man besides Mr. Pretty Eyes began to speak again.

"As I said, they were both found a few miles outside the village limits. And… they don't seem to be ninjas. Either that or they're only genin. I can't sense their chakra and they didn't notice our presence at all." The red head nodded, a pale forefinger tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"We'll interrogate them separately. Bring the blonde one to my office first. If they refuse to reveal any information, we'll keep them locked up until further notice." And with that Mr. Triangle Head exited the hallway, leaving me alone with the other dude. _Well… shit._

**Vash's POV**

I sighed in annoyance as I fiddled with my hair, combing the bottom half through my fingers. Without glasses, I was only able to clearly see things that were directly in front of my face. Of course the poor lenses had practically disintegrated after I had removed them from my face. _How inconvenient. How am I supposed to find Nicky now?_ A growl escaped my lips while my hands clenched into fists. _The longer I sit here doing nothing the more frustrating this fucking shit becomes! But… I'm kind of useless at the moment. _

"Hey hey! Ow! Ease up on the grip there, it's not like I'm going to just jump out of this tower to escape!" _Hey that sounds like Nicky. _From my position on the ground, I crawled my way over to the bars of the cell, gripping onto the cold iron bars as two figures walked past. I could barely make out the forms, but I knew one had to be Nicky.

"Nicky!"

"Vash! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! What's going on?"

"They're going to interrogate us! But don't worry! I got this!" _Oh god. What does __**that**__ mean? _I stood up, leaning closer towards her voice, and was surprised that the guard, or whoever was holding her, hadn't stopped our conversation yet.

"Nicky, don't do something stupid!"

"It's okay Vash! It'll all be okay!" Her voice slowly drifted away farther down the hall until I heard a door creak open and shut shortly after. _God damnit Nicky. You better be in your right mind right now. Guess I should think up a good explanation just in case…_

**Nicky's POV**

The whole walk to my destination, I thought about all the things I was missing back in my world (my family, the guys, Konan, Rin) and I decided something. _You know what? I've had a bunch of random crap happen in the past couple months. I harbored criminals, evaded near death on several occasions, ran from zombies, and faced several uncomfortable situations that I thought I'd never recover from, and yet I've come out okay from all of those! And it's been awesome! So by god, I'll come out of this alive. I'm sure of it! I'm a new Nicky now! And I've got this handled. _

I was feeling so confident, that as I passed Vash's cell I told her not to worry. Me! Usually it was the other way around. But not this time!

At the end of the hallway, we turned into a room with a double door, where I was promptly released, the doors shut tight behind me, leaving me alone with Pretty Eyes. At first all I could do was look around at his tidy looking office and the large windows that overlooked the town, though a light cough brought my attention back to him and I remained frozen in my spot. _Come on Nicky! He's just a kid too. Probably even younger than you! You got this! Yeah you're right! 'Course I am. _

"Take a seat," he offered, motioning to one of the chairs that sat before his desk. I awkwardly walked over there before slumping into one of the chairs. This whole confidence act was not working out too well. _At least he's nicer than Orangey… aww I kinda miss him. And the rest of them. Boo now I'm all sad-ish again._

"-are you even listening?" I bolted up straight in my seat and looked around the room a bit before gazing back at him with a nervous smile.

"Eh heh. Sorry. I'm just… I dunno. So uh… should I just tell you what happened?" He clasped his hands together and placed them on the desk in front of him, his face still holding that blank stare.

"That is why you're here, isn't it?"

"Hahaha… that's right! It sure is… anyway so basically…" _Think Nicky! Pretty sure the Akatsuki were not friends with most of the people in this show so… best not to mention them at all. Here goes nothin'. _"So Vash and I were at Rin's house because I was supposed to be babysitting her, and we decided to play hide and seek and then… then… we went and hid in this closet and knocked over this vase thingy, which was completely Vash's fault… anyways! We were hiding there… and then we woke up in the middle of the desert! And then we got kidnapped by you guys and now we're here!" By the time I was finished with my epic tale, I noticed he now had a hand massaging his temple. _That reminds me of the look Itachi and Pein gave me when trying to train me… damnit. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed their company until I'm not with them anymore! Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. _

"So you expect me to believe that you just happened to appear right outside my village with no recollection of how you got there and no chakra signature whatsoever? Do you realize that every living thing in this world **has** some form of chakra? Yet neither of you have one. How can that be possible?"

"…oh uh… am I supposed to know the answer to that? Uh… I'm not dead I mean. But I don't think I'm from this world. I don't even know what chakra is! I don't even know where we are, or who you are or why we were captured in the first place! I think you owe us answers too, buddy." I almost covered my mouth after I said that, but I decided to stand strong with my sentence. _Seriously, who goes and kidnaps random people anyway? And why is this kid the one to do it? What makes him so important? _I thought I made a good point so I decided to bring it up. "And how come you have the right to kidnap us anyways? What makes you so important? I'm pretty sure you're younger than me! You should respect your elders!"

The boy said nothing, when suddenly the doors opened from behind me. I turned around to see two guards walking my way.

"Hey wait a second, I'm not a bad person! I mean I think bad thoughts sometimes about killing people, but I think that's pretty normal! And I'm harmless! When I go to the gym I have to use the lightest weights possible! Seriously!" Ignoring my rant, the guards lifted me up by the arms and escorted me out, but not before I heard the boy speak.

"We'll continue this later once you've had some time to think. If you are still not willing to cooperate, we will be forced to hold you for as long as we deem necessary to determine what risk you present to this village."

"Wait but-!" _**Slam! **_Before I had realized, I was being led back to my cell. _So much for "handling it". Way to go Nicky. _

"Nicky! What happened?" I turned my head to the right as we walked passed Vash's block, but immediately avoided her gaze in shame.

"Sorry Vash. I guess it's up to you now, but don't worry, I believe in you!"

**Vash's POV**

_Sigh. How did I know that was going to happen? _There was a light creak to my left and I looked over just in time to see the same two guards who took Nicky standing before me.

"Come on then. It's your turn," one of them mumbled. I hoisted myself up from the floor and attempted to brush the dirt off my pants. The guards quickly gripped my forearms, leading me to my most certain doom. _Well I guess my life could have ended in a worse way. But wait a second… I can't just give up and let those hoodlums trash our house at home! We did all this for them after all, and I'm not about to let us get sacrificed before we've seen a reward for our deeds._

"Well I certainly hope you have a better story for me than your… interesting friend had." My eyes flickered up to see a blob of colors, the most visible being red.

"Yes, she isn't very good at this sort of thing."

"Does that mean you are then?"

"No, but I do have a proposition for you." There was silence for a moment. A subtle tapping of fingers on wood could be heard.

"Very well. Let's hear it."

**Meanwhile…**

As soon as Zetsu had alerted the group of his discovery, they were quick to act, racing down the stairs to the front of the closet the two girls had been hiding in. Rin grabbed Konan's cloak towards her tiny frame as they stood before the door. At some point the whole group had changed their clothing, thinking that it would be better off to be prepared in case things took a turn for the worst.

"Are you sure it's in here, Zetsu?" Pein wondered to the plant man.

"**Of course**," he scoffed, "the portal is at the end of this closet." The group stood silently for a moment, staring at the door.

"Well what the fuck area we doing standing around here then? Let's get the fuck out of here. I'm ready to do some proper sacrificing!" Hidan yelled from the back of the crowd, roughly pushing his way towards the door when a voice stopped him.

"But… what about Nicky and Vash…?" A couple of the members looked back to Rin who had a few tears rolling down her cheeks, still holding tightly to Konan's cloak. Deidara frowned slightly.

"If they aren't here… then where could they be, hm?" Sasori glanced to the blonde on his right before answering.

"Well if not here, then who knows where in this world or ours they could be."

"And if that's the case," Kisame continued, "then… there isn't much we can do." Rin sniffled a bit.

"And if they're in your world, will you save them?" More silence.

"Yeah. We'll save them," Itachi said quietly. The rest (those who showed emotion at least) looked stunned at his input. Tobi clapped his hands a few times in the air.

"Tobi will save girlies too since blonde girly saved Tobi!"

"I still owe that short one money… I don't like having a debt," added Kakuzu in a reluctant tone.

"It was pretty nice to have them take care of us," Kisame mused.

"And they were quite entertaining," Sasori mumbled. Nodding beside him, Deidara grinned.

"Especially to mess with, yeah."

Fed up, Pein stood before the mass with an annoyed look in his eyes. "No. They are no longer our responsibility. It's out of our hands now. We need to focus on collecting the tailed beasts, not finding some brats." Konan sent an unnoticeable glare in his direction before stepping forward.

"It is still the least we could do after getting them kicked out of their only home, among other things." After a few moments, the leader finally sighed.

"Fine, but as soon as they're safe, we get back to our own plans." Rin gave a faint smile, opening the closet door for them.

"Be safe then… all of you."

One by one they passed by her into the now-visible portal, though she wouldn't let Itachi leave without a hug goodbye.

"Don't forget to be a gentleman." He placed a hand on her head.

"Hn." He then made his leave as the last of them, disappearing into the blinding light. And Rin wasn't sure why, but after they had left, the portal collapsed in on itself, leaving an ordinary closet behind.

"It's gone… does that mean they'll be able to come back?"

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><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>So if any of you are still left... please review and let me know you're alive :D I miss you all!


	18. Super Nicky, Away!

**Foosha:** Well hello all I guess this wait wasn't nearly as terrible as the last one.

**Vash:** Yeah, not even close.

**Foosha:** Well whatever. Thank you for the reviews from blackcatgirl, Simplicity-Shitsuboku, and Marskatr! I really appreciate it and am glad to know there are people still interested :D I also really appreciate all the alerts I've been receiving. It's really nice to know that people like this story. I apologize for the shorter length of this chapter, but I've been in the middle of finals (taking summer classes) and leaving on a trip back home. This chapter and perhaps the next also cover a touchy subject that I'm trying to convey. But just FYI-

**Nicky:** We are in no way trying to be Mary-Sues! 'Cause that stuff is stupid and pointless, at least in my opinion. Makes the people less fun.

**Foosha:** So just keep that in mind! And if you start to think they might be, just give me until the next chapter so I can completely explain this concept!

**Vash:** Foosha doesn't own Naruto and other references and stuff like that. So let's get started already.

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><p>I sighed for the hundredth time that night as I scraped little pictures into the stone floor beside me with a small rock, trying to keep my mind busy so I didn't focus on freaking out. <em>I wonder if the guys were found by the police? They did storm in the house… but I'm sure that as ninjas they're smarter than that! I hope… <em>

Suddenly footsteps echoed through the hallway. I looked up in time to see a guard unlocking my cell.

"I'm free? So you realized I'm harmless after all then, eheheh…" He gave me a blank look and I groaned audibly, standing myself up and walking over to him. He grabbed my wrists and held them behind me as he lead me back to the entrance of the tower, without a word.

Once we arrived outside we walked a ways to an open field… well not really a field since we were in a desert. More like… a plot of unoccupied sand.

"Nicky!"

I spun around to see Vash, in a similar predicament, being led towards me.

"What's going on? Are we going to battle to the death and whoever comes out alive is let free?" Her face fell, and I'm sure if she had a free hand she would have facepalmed.

"Not exactly…-" Before she could finish, a familiar red-headed, triangle-hatted boy walked over to us. He glanced between Vash and I before speaking.

"I have decided to give you a chance to prove yourselves as innocent civilians. Unfortunately, due to the fact that neither of you have chakra still leaves me suspicious. Thus, if I accept you to be harmless, you will remain here in this village until we discover the cause of this… oddity. Until then, I've asked two ninja to take time away from their schedules in order to fight you." I snorted loudly. Mister eyeliner (which I just noticed he had) directed his attention towards me, his expression neutral.

"Wait… are you serious? We can't fight! They'll kill us!"

"I assure you that if that's the case, they will know and stop the fight."

"Well… if you say so." _Vash… what have you gotten us into?! Sigh. At least for once it isn't my fault._

The hold the guard had on my wrists was released, causing me to stumble forward in surprise. Vash rushed over to me (at an awkward pace since she couldn't see very well), panting slightly before squinting her eyes in my direction.

"Nicky?" I gave her an "of course" look, but realized she probably didn't notice.

"Yeah it's me. Was this your idea?"

"Well, this is what he pulled from my idea so… not exactly. But we are telling the truth, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah but we still get beaten up, dodo brain!" She scowled.

"We'll just have to try to block then! What else can we do?! At least we have a chance of freedom this way." I frowned.

"I guess you're right." _Stupid reason… of course she's right. Oh! I just remembered something. _"Hey uh… guy. What's your name? I'm starting to run out of adjectives to describe you. Otherwise I'll just start calling you Clifford."

"The big red dog?" Vash asked.

"The big red dog," I confirmed. He gave me a weird look before returning to his uncaring attitude.

"I am the Kazekage of Suna: Gaara." We both gazed at him blankly. He sighed. "I'm the leader of this village." I nodded my head as if I had known it all along.

"Of course, of course. Because "kaze" means sand and "kage" means leader! You are the leader of the sand people!" Vash gave me a "wtf?" face. _Yep. Weird mood starting to set in again. Maybe that just happens when I get nervous/scared/angry or just not sure how to feel. Or maybe I've finally cracked under the situation. Ah well. _Gaara just glanced to Vash.

"Besides the fact that your friend seems to be an idiot, we will still have to test to make sure this isn't just an act. Both of you stand over there. The other two should be here shortly." I scuttled to the location behind Vash, suddenly terrified of what was to come.

Suddenly two blurs appeared before us on the opposite side of the field. When the dust settled, it revealed a girl with blonde hair in four ponytails and a dude in a cat suit. _Where's his tail? _Gaara walked towards them and they conversed quietly. Feeling left out, I grabbed Vash's upper arm and pulled her towards me.

"Let's pretend we're talking about a strategy too."

"Nicky, what happened to being scared?"

"I'm trying not to think about that right now."

Gaara backed away from the pair and looked to us.

"Fight fair, this is only a spar." He then backed away from the field, which apparently meant go since the other guys just disappeared into thin air. I frantically looked around me before I noticed someone next to me. I wasn't quick enough. It was the girl and she already had a fist soaring towards my face. It made contact and I flew back onto the sand, scraping up my back, arms and legs. _FUCK THAT HURT! SHIT FUCK GAH! Of course I had to be wearing a t-shirt and shorts today. _

"Damnit," I mumbled, shakily lifting myself up on my elbows before being kicked in the side, causing me to roll over in a crumpled heap. _Jesus Christ this hurts! I've never been beat up before. Must stay strong Nicky! You can handle physical pain. Fuck fuck fuck. _Another kick to the same side told me otherwise though, and I was now lying on my stomach. My knees were pulled up underneath me and my face was lying on the sand, while both my hands held my right side tightly. "God fucking damnit woman! Can't you see I'm not fighting back?! Christ." I noticed a shadow cast beneath me.

"Well well, you're not bothering to dodge. Let's see what happens when I use some chakra instead. Then I'll know for sure if you're ninjas. No one would want to get hit by this!" _Well… fahk._

**Meanwhile Vash's POV as fight begins…**

A few seconds after the fight began, I no longer felt Nicky's presence by my side, and couldn't see anyone in front of me either. _Well shit. This isn't a good start. _I made a prepared stance (legs farther apart, knees bent), ready for any oncoming attacks, but wasn't quite ready for a sweeping kick under my legs. Of course, I fell forwards on my face, arms sprawled out in front of me. I coughed as the dust rose.

"Well you're slow, that's for sure," the guy laughed. Growling to myself, I sat up and tried to blink the dirt away from my vision.

"Well excuse me for not being able to see! We're obviously not ninja material!"

"Whatever. We won't know that until more life threatening attacks are sent your way."

_Are they trying to kill us then?!_ I scrambled to my feet and dove to the left just as he sent another kick my way. _Well that was lucky! _Rolling a good distance from him, I then got to my feet and tried to run as far away as possible. Unfortunately, I barely made it three steps when I felt a blow to my stomach, making me slump forward into the sudden figure that appeared in front of me. I gasped for air and he pushed me down onto my back, making it increasingly more difficult for me to breathe. And then to top it off, he gave another kick to my gut. I crumpled into the fetal position, coughing loudly.

"Get up already. Enough with this charade of being weak, I still have yet to use chakra."

There was a rough push on my right elbow, returning me to the position on my back, before the guy grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, pulling me up in one swift motion to meet his eyes. I breathed heavily, coughing in his face a few times. He frowned and firmly placed me on the ground in front of him before letting go and moving to his original place on the field. I wobbled a bit, but shook my head. _Come on Vash. At least look like you're trying so they don't accuse you of giving up too easily. _

"What the hell is this?!"

I turned around in confusion to where Nicky and the other girl's battle was taking place. Nicky had her hands partially covering her face and a bewildered expression, while the other girl looked flustered about something.

**Nicky's POV**

'_Da fuck did I just do…? _Pigtails decided she'd had enough of my cowering and removed her fan. She had only opened it partially, enough to see one purple spot. I had jumped to my feet just in time for her to aim a nice sized gust of wind my way. Before I knew was happening, having little time to shield my face, the wind had come and gone. The strange thing was, it did so without affecting me whatsoever. And now I was in the awkward position of blinking at the blonde in surprise. _Maybe she decided to be nice at the last minute and somehow made it barely miss me? I mean it was headed straight for me! There's no way it could have missed on its own. _

"So… you are stronger than you let on. Okay then. Time to get serious." Before I realized what was happening, another gust was sent my way, obviously more powerful than the last. I panicked and fell flat on my stomach to avoid it, hands clasped tightly over my head. _This is where I die._ A few seconds passed before I realized nothing had happened. I slowly moved my hands away from my head, lifting myself up to a sitting position. Pigtails looked furious. I grimaced and quickly jumped to my feet, backing away from her irritated figure. _Holy shit, what have I done? She's pissed! She's going to kill me… and probably enjoy it! _

"Enough messing around then. That was a warm-up swing." _It clearly wasn't but… gah! No time to be criticizing! Think of an escape! ESCAPE! _

My eyes darted around nervously, hardly having time to take in any surroundings. I was too panicked to even think straight. The girl suddenly held up her fan and started walking towards me, all while swing her fan repeatedly. I backed up and winced at the strong winds that blew my way, but then I realized something. As the gusts got closer to me, they began to weaken until they hit me with a light breeze.

"Huh?"

I halted, removing my hands from my face that I had covered up in protection, "they can't hurt me?" I had stopped walking, but she continued to push forward, her fan motions speeding up.

"Why… isn't… this… working?!" _The hell…? Well it can only mean one thing. I am invincible! BWAHAHAHAHA! If I believe that the attacks have no effect, then they won't! _

Her face intensified, glaring at me as she moved her fan into one hand, the other pulled back in preparation for what looked like a punch. I became slightly nervous at the thought of a physical attack and side-stepped to the right. This of course did not deter her as she angled herself to my new position and gave a strong uppercut to my gut. It sent me backwards a few feet, landing me on my back with a painful "thump". I coughed violently and sat up, clutching at my shirt as I hacked away a lung or two. _Fuck. Guess I'm not invincible. Argh… _Dust rose around me, sending me into another coughing fit while I tried to blink away the tears that clung to my lower eyelids. Pigtails' figure emerged through the dust clouds, a look of shock on her face when her eyes caught sight of me.

"But that… you should have been sent flying! What the hell is wrong with my chakra?!" Suddenly she was in my face, pulling me up by my, now dirtied, t-shirt to meet her face. "What are you doing to my chakra, hm?" I blinked at her dumbly, causing her to become even more frustrated. She let out a growl before her fist connected to my face. I felt like I was falling, but a sudden pull to the collar warned me that she wasn't done quite yet. She then began to violently shake me back and forth while repeating the same questions over again. I thought she might snap my neck so I tried to steady myself by grabbing her hands, though that helped little.

"What the hell have you done, you bitch?! I feel weaker just holding you!"

I grunted frustration, still struggling in her grasp, but was able to give her a decent glare.

"Well it sure doesn't seem like it to me, because you're still hurting me-gah!" Another punch to the face and before I could even recover my jumbled thoughts, I felt her hands creep up to my neck and tighten. _Well this is it for me isn't it? I was never invincible in the first place… how disappointing… _

My vision began to flicker dark, while I still vainly attempted to remove her hands from my neck. There was some yelling, and I was suddenly dropped to the warm sand. I painfully tried to regain my breath, vision still somewhat splotchy, I wasn't able to see what the commotion was about.

**Meanwhile…**

"Well… at least it isn't Konaha," Kisame muttered, brushing sand off of his cloak. A few of the others nodded in agreement, still slightly annoyed at their rough landing into hot sand.

"It's nice to finally have chakra again too, yeah!" Deidara added excitedly, his hand mouths grinning. Tobi quickly jumped up from behind him, his arms waving wildly.

"WAHHHH! Tobi has sand in his mask!"

"Shut the hell up Tobi, un!"

"Shut up, brat. You're both annoying me." Pein shot them a threatening stare before speaking.

"Let's get back to base and regroup. We can discuss details later." The other members nodded before one by one disappearing. Pein was the last to leave, casting a quick glance before leaving to the barely visible sand village in the distance.

**And Then… (Vash's POV)**

"What the fuck is wrong with you?! I thought you said they would stop when then knew we weren't ninjas!"

I thrashed violently in the hold of the cat-man while I angrily eyed Mr. Broody. He gave a puzzled look to the area in front of him, a hand holding his chin thoughtfully.

"They **were** supposed to," he finally said, "but apparently Temari saw your friend as more of a threat, and I'm not sure quite why yet."

_Ugh, this guy! I want to kick his creepy, eyebrowless face in! _I had just witnessed Nicky get beaten to a near pulp and almost get choked to death. Luckily, the red-head was able to stop the girl in time. The cat-hood guy did nothing either, but watched as the girl flipped out on Nicky while I stood beside him helplessly, him gripping one of my wrists to make sure I didn't try anything. The girl, or Temari, was wandering off to the side looking especially confused and irritated.

"I will speak with her about this and then we will find out what to do with you and… your friend." He motioned to Nicky's weary form lying motionless on the ground. Had her face not been facing me, I would have thought she was dead or at least knocked out. She was breathing carefully and her face was beginning to look black and blue. _Poor Nicky… we'll make it out of this, as long as we survive… _

After a few minutes of Temari and red-headtalking, they finally met some sort of consensus and made their way back to where we stood. _What was his name again? Gera? Or Gaara? Yeah I think it was that last one. _Anyway, he turned his head towards me and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Until further notice, we are going to keep you in the Sand Village until we figure out where you should go. You are still a threat so we will keep you under constant observation, but you will be able to stay in your own rooms instead of cells. Knowing that neither of you have chakra nor seem to be affected by chakra related moves… this presents some questioning. I will have to contact other people to see how something like this could possibly happen. Kankuro, Temari, escort them to their rooms. The guards will do the rest." Cat-hood, er Kankuro, grabbed me with one arm around the waist and easily lifted me up like I was nothing. I wanted to complain, but decided based on the positions we were in that it would be a bad idea.

As we were carried back to the large building that we left, I turned my head to look at Nicky's weak form in the arms of some guard guy. _I guess that girl wanted nothing to do with her now. Maybe it's better that way. _She gave me a small smile and wave to show she was awake. I hesitantly smiled back and decided to just be happy that we were alive for the moment and wouldn't be staying in stupid cages anymore.

**In Nicky's Temporary Room**

It had been a few hours since the fight and I had cleaned myself up in a nice shower before being looked over by a nurse. She added some ointments and bandages, but said I wasn't too damaged. Just an ugly black-eye and some other unsightly bruising and scrapes.

"Ugh, gross. I guess I'm lucky it wasn't worse though," I sighed out loud, plopping myself down onto the new comfortable bed I was given. _She did almost shatter my jaw though, according to the doctor, so I'd say I was extremely lucky. One more blow could have made it so. _I turned my head to the right and looked out the open window that exposed the sandy village. "It's actually kinda pretty, now that I'm not completely terrified for my life. The room is nice too… wish I knew where Vash was though… somewhere far away from me in this tower building thing. Damnit… and this outfit is weird too." It was a strange desert-y dress thing. The only outfits they seemed to be hanging in my closet. "Neato…"

I sighed and rolled over on my side facing the window, letting the warm breeze wash over me. It was actually kind of refreshing. _I wonder… I wonder if they'll come look for us. Do they know we got kidnapped? Do they even really care? _I sighed again, now slightly depressed.

"I've become closer to them than I thought I was. Why should I even worry about what they're doing? I mean… I hope they're okay… I hope we see them again."

I didn't necessarily feel that way about all of them, but a select few came to mind. Some I weren't expecting. And then a weirder thought crossed my mind. _Do I… do I like some of these guys? Like… more than friends? _I shook my head. _Nono there's no way… right? _I grabbed the pillow I was laying on and tugged it around my head, releasing a groan of frustration.

"Don't even think about this kind of stuff right now Nicky. Your survival is more important than cute guys… urgh! I mean. Blah gah dfaasdfjlkjgsdhdf. I give up."

I stilled my body after another exasperated sigh and tried closing my eyes. The near setting sun was all I saw before my vision blackened completely, sending me into a sound sleep that I desperately needed.

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><p><strong>Foosha<strong>: Hey guys, stay tuned for the next chapter hopefully finished in the next couple of weeks! My school schedule is going to be pretty rigorous, but I'll definitely try to put time into finishing this!

**Nicky:** Next chapter sounds like it'll be interesting already! o.o

**Foosha:** Oh and also reviews are always nice and make me feel so happy. So if you have the time or advice to give me, please do so! Until next time!

**Vash:** Meow.


	19. I Give Up

**Foosha: **Oh my god I finally did it. I hope you are proud of me, because this guy took wayyy too long to do.

**Vash:** Stop being lazy.

**Foosha: **Fuck you.

**Nicky: **Foosha doesn't own Naruto or other reference-y things.

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><p><span><strong>Back at base…<strong>

"It's been a week… are we just going to forget about them, hm?"

Sasori glanced at his blonde companion for a moment before returning to the repairs he was conducting on his puppet. "Why does it matter? They were just two obnoxious obstacles that we had to cooperate with. Nothing of importance."

Deidara shifted in his seat, absently folding the clay in his hand, his face looking somewhat puzzled. "I feel like we owe them though and we made a promise, hm."

Sasori scoffed. "We have already spared their lives. I think we should be considered even."

"I guess you're right, yeah…"

"Of course I am, brat."

The blonde sighed uncertainly before placing his blob of clay on the table.

"Tobi misses the girlies!" Tobi shrieked while clobbering Deidara off of his chair.

"God damnit Tobi, get off of me, hm!" The blonde shoved Tobi roughly to the side so he could sit up.

"Tobi is sorry, Tobi just wants the girlies back…"

Sasori gave him an apathetic look. "I don't understand why you two feel so attached to them."

Tobi hopped a little in an impatient manner as Deidara suddenly shot up, looking flustered. "Pfft! I'm not "attached" to them, yeah! I just feel like I have a debt and I don't like feeling like I owe someone something, hm!"

"How could you feel like you owe a debt, when you don't? And what exactly do you propose we do about it? I hardly believe that anyone else in the Akatsuki really wants to go find them," the red-head scoffed.

"Tobi is going to ask Leader if we can find them!" And before anyone could interrupt, he was already gone.

"This is ridiculous," Sasori continued his rant, "if you two do this, I want nothing to do with it." Deidara glanced around the room, avoiding his partner's eyes.

"Well…uh… gotta go, yeah!" The red-head looked up to where Deidara had been only to see him slip through the doorway.

"Fools…"

**Meanwhile…**

It's been a while since Vash and Nicky had gone "missing". The police scoured the city area for any signs of the missing girls. They received reports of them being seen earlier with some shady looking men. The search had been ongoing, but some had given up, presuming them to be dead. Their families were devastated, still clinging to a hope that they were alive and safe somewhere. Of course, only one knew the truth.

Since the incident, little Rin had been quieter than ever. Without Nicky to watch her, her parents had to take her to a high class daycare, where she would do nothing but sit by herself, drawing things that no one could quite make out.

Her parents worried about her, and decided to try to be home more often to be there with her for comfort.

No one knew the real reason for her strange behavior.

It was around eleven pm at her household, where Rin laid awake in her small bed, her dark eyes glued to the ceiling. Her mind was far too busy for her to fall asleep even at such a later hour. What had happened to her babysitter? What about Izaya? Were they okay? Should she tell her parents? The police?

She turned over on her side. These were not things a child should have to worry about. Perhaps she should just forget. But the words that came from her mother earlier that day would not leave her head. She replayed the conversation between her parents in her mind again.

"_It seems strange, darling, how much it's changed in our neighborhood these past few months. And to think it all started out with a simple box."_

"_Indeed."_

What had her mother meant by that? Surely she didn't know anything about the strange cat/men that had invaded Nicky's home. That didn't make any sense. Rin had thought it was just a coincidence until she heard her father bring up something similar a little later. They had been arguing about something in the kitchen.

"_Well I don't know how to fix that and I'm definitely not going to try. I'll have to ask my mother about it next time she visits. It shouldn't be opening up randomly like it has been. She's supposed to have complete control over it, at least the entrance in this house." _

Rin frowned to herself. That had definitely been a suspicious conversation. Especially bringing up her grandma. What did her grandma have to do with the portal Nicky and Vash fell into? Maybe she was just jumping to conclusions.

The young girl shook her head to clear her thoughts, turning over to her other side in the process and squeezing her eyes shut. She'd just have to worry about sleeping for now. Nothing she could do at the moment anyway until she found out more information. And with a lazy nod, her mind fell into a hazy state.

**Vash's POV**

"Ow-ow! That hurts! Do you really have to do tests every day? It's not like we'll spontaneously turn into giant monsters or something!"

The nurses ignored my outcry and placed the couple of blood vials on the small table. The week had been filled with Nicky and I becoming experimental candidates for medical procedures. Since we didn't have "chakra", they had to make sure we were normal people, as normal as we can be that is.

I sighed in annoyance for what had to be the hundredth time that day. The nurses chatted quietly to each other before waving our guards to come escort us back to our rooms. I looked to my right to see Nicky passed out, again. The guards entered the room, and upon seeing Nicky passed out, her guard rolled his eyes before lifting her dead weight. I jumped down from the medical gurney and followed them out, my guard trailing behind. Thankfully, earlier in the week the nurses had been nice enough to get some new glasses for me so I was now actually able to see things clearly.

_We need to find a way out of here. I can't handle this anymore and I'm pretty sure Nicky can't either. They might end up killing us anyway, so we have to try at least! The problem stands though… how?_

Moments later, we arrived at our bedroom/cell doors, which were conveniently across the hall from one another. Nicky was awake now, but strangely quiet and obedient. The guards opened our doors and lightly pushed us into our prisons before closing us in. I let out a determined breath and began to formulate an escape plan.

**Nicky's POV**

I had given up. We were going to die here. I could just feel it. And there was nothing we could do to change that. I slowly glided over to my bed and flopped onto my back, zoning out as my eyes stared at the ceiling blankly. I briefly thought about my life back in my world, though I didn't linger long on those thoughts since I had already mourned over the fact that I'd probably never get home. Now I was at the final stage of my denial: acceptance. I had accepted my fate and had given up on trying to fight against it. _That's the way I usually face impossible tasks, after all. Giving up. _

After an hour or so of nothingness, my mind got bored and switched to thinking about random stuff. _What if I was a ninja born in a ninja world like this? That'd be pretty cool. I'd kill things and stuff. I'd be pretty badass. Yeah… I could do that. _I nodded my head subconsciously to the thought.

Suddenly, I heard a light knocking sound. I sat up slowly and looked around, confused. Stepping down from my bed, I padded over to the door and opened it quietly, seeing my guard standing there with his back to me. He turned his head slightly when he heard the door open and gave a stern look.

"Uh… did you knock? Or am I crazy?"

His facial expression didn't change.

"Get back inside your room or I will have to force you in."

I huffed in protest.

"Fine fine. It was just a question." I closed the door and went back to my bed, scratching my head. "I swear I heard knocking…"

_Knock knock_

Whipping my head around, I quickly realized that the sound was coming from the window. I rushed over and opened the curtains, my eyes widening when I realized there was someone knocking from outside, and even more when I realized it was Vash throwing stuff from the window below. She noticed the curtain move and waved her hand frantically. I quickly opened the window and lowered my voice so the guards wouldn't hear.

"Vash! What the hell are you doing?! You're going to get yourself killed! You crazy-"

"Woman, shut up and let's get out of here. Do that bed sheet thing that's on the movies and get in this window! Hurry!" And then she was gone. _Okay. I got this. I've always wanted to try this. Hooray for minor motivation!_

I quickly skipped to the bed and removed the sheets and bedding as quietly as possible, tying the ends together and one to the leg of the bed.

"I hope this bed is heavy enough to hold me… and my knots are okay… it's not that far down though… right?"

Peaking down from my window I noticed the window Vash was in was about seven feet away. _See? Not bad at all! You can do this!_

I nodded my head reassuringly and after positioning myself on the window sill, began to lower myself down very slowly, trying to reach the other window with my foot so I wouldn't have all my weight on the sheets. Vash's head appeared again, looking urgent. She was probably worried about us getting caught. I took this as a hint to hurry and finally let go of my window in order to climb down farther, but instead I froze and gripped to the sheet tightly. I looked down at Vash again as she tried encouraging me to move by waving. I shook my head quickly and held tighter to the coarse fabric. _Nope! I don't think so!_

Once I had finally decided that I couldn't just hang in that position all day, I reluctantly moved towards the window beneath me, touching down with my bare feet. Vash moved aside as I clumsily maneuvered my way inside, landing on a hard counter space with a 'thud'. I glared at Vash, ready to yell at her, but instead was interrupted.

"You know we needed to try to escape. There's no way they will keep us alive here and we both know it."

I looked down, eyebrows furrowed. She continued.

"This was the only thing I could think of and for some reason it's been working so far. So snap out of your depression. We have to finish this or there's no way out. Ready?"

"Yeah. I'm ready now, but uh… where exactly are we going to go from here?"

"Well, we just have to be quiet and sneaky…"

"…well that sounds impossible!"

"We're out of options, Nicky. We have to try at least."

"Fine… I'll pretend I'm Solid Snake then."

She rolled her eyes at me and proceeded to hush me with a finger to her lips before motioning to follow her to the door. This meant that it was my turn to start the spy music soundtrack in my head. _Dundun dundun dundun dundun dunana, dunana, dunana, duna! Dunana, dunana, dunana, duna!_

Half an hour and a lot of getting lost later, Vash and I somehow managed to find our way to the front entrance. We miraculously didn't run into any guards the whole time we stumbled through, but during the last stretch we were faced with a front desk clerk and two door-guard-ninjas. Vash slowly turned around and motioned for us to back track, which I happily obliged. We ended up closing ourselves into a small kitchen on the second floor.

"Well, now what?" Vash grumbled, absent-mindedly opening the refrigerator door like we used to do back home. _It's kinda weird that they have basic electricity thing with ninjas… I don't even know._

I glanced around the kitchen and noticed a window. My stomach growled.

"We could probably get down from that window if we find more sheets… but maybe we should eat first, I'm fucking starving." _At this point I give few fucks for what happens next, and if I'm going to die soon anyway, I might as well eat first._

Vash gave me an incredulous look.

"That's… a really stupid idea."

"Well just think about it. Once we get out of here, I highly doubt we'll be able to eat again anytime soon with no money. We should at least have a snack. And we might die anyway so, what the hell?"

"Okay fine, but if there isn't anything in here that we can grab and eat fast, then we leave. How come I'm the one who has to take charge of this escape?"

I ignored her question and continued my search for sustenance. "Okay, okay. I'll check the cupboards."

Of course there was only unprepared ingredients. _I wish I had crappy Mac and Cheese right now… _

"Hey, here's some rice balls. Looks like it was someone's lunch or something."

"Gimme."

She unwrapped one for herself and tossed another to me, which I somehow caught. Usually in this situation, Vash would probably object to taking someone random person's lunch, but we were in too much of a hurry to worry about that. I quickly unwrapped my rice ball and took a huge bite, savoring the bland but satisfying taste, when the kitchen door flew open, revealing King Gaara himself along with his guard brigade.

I froze mid-chew. I'm sure we were quite the site, scarfing down rice balls all hunched over and ravenous looking. _We did miss lunch though… so I'm pretty hungry._

Gaara gave a hint of an exasperated stare, but quickly reverted back to an indifferent expression.

"You two… are some of the stupidest people I have ever met. There is no doubt in my mind that you are not shinobi, however, we will be relocating you to do more extensive tests. Your loss of chakra is unexplainable with our results and we do not have the technology to assess it more thoroughly here."

The guards behind him stepped forward. There were two on each of us, gripping our arms firmly.

"We've prepared the necessary supplies for your trip. You will have a party of escorts that will transport you, since you'll clearly need the protection."

I swallowed the rest of the rice ball and smiled sheepishly. Our new "escorts" began to pull us forward, following behind Gaara as he led us out the front entrance. A hot wind blew the hairs away from my face as I squinted away from the bright sunlight. I then began to bounce up and down on my feet realizing that not wearing shoes was a terrible idea in extremely hot sand.

"Wait-wait, are we leaving now?!" Vash exclaimed from my left.

Suddenly, three more ninja-guards popped up in front of us.

"I'll take that as a yes," I said under my breath, noticing the backpacks they were carrying. "Hang on, we have to trek through the desert in these casual clothes? Shouldn't we have something a little more heavy-duty? And I could really use some shoes!"

I tugged at the ends of my quarter-sleeve shirt. It was lightweight and white in color. My lower half consisted of tan cargo-like capris, matching the sandy landscape. Vash was wearing something similar except had forest green pants. They were actually also capris, but she's short so… yeah.

A bulky man walked up to us, whom I recognized as the cat man we had to fight a while ago. _Oh great._ He eyed us hesitantly before giving us each a thick, navy vest and navy ninja-looking sandals. _Oh sweet. Now we'll look more like ninjas! But… this is going to be really hot to wear… _I immediately slipped the shoes on and was met with relief from the molten ground.

"…Thanks," Vash replied quietly, probably intimidated, but still feeling obligated to be somewhat polite.

Gaara turned to the cat-man and said some things quietly before coming back over to us.

"If either of you make any trouble during this trip, you will be immediately escorted to jail. You will be treated as criminals until they've decided to deem you trustworthy. I assume you wouldn't want that."

We shook our heads. He nodded to cat-man.

"Go then. It's a three day journey."

Cat-man nodded and signaled for the men to follow his lead. The guard in front of me knelt down.

"Get on. You'll be too slow if you walk." I nodded and grabbed onto his shoulders, hoisting myself up and securing my position. "Make sure you have a good grip. If you fall, it will be your own fault."

"Y-yeah. Okay."

In a blur we were flying. Well it seemed that way at least. I closed my eyes to shield them from the sting of sand and wind. At first, it was exhilarating and my adrenaline was pumping from how fast we were moving, but after a while it seemed to steady into a predictable rhythm, lulling me into a near meditative state. I was tired, but that's the time when my brain seems most active.

_Three days. That's a long time of running. It's strange that I didn't even object to it._

The seriousness of the situation continued to weigh down on me, give me flares of severe anxiety and yet I still had given up, my small amount of motivation I got from the "escape" was gone. A temporary depression set in. Or at least I hoped it was temporary.

"At least I escaped a kind of prison. That's pretty cool."

Somehow the guard below me heard what I said.

"Actually, we knew what you guys were doing. We just assumed that you would eventually give up and go back to your rooms."

_Well, lame._

I gave a "hmph" sound before zoning out into other thoughts.

_It's crazy that in this whole experience with the Akatsuki, I've changed my anti-social personality into one where I actually feel like I miss being around so many people. And really, overall I feel like I've become more mature after having to care for so many adults at once. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not, but I suppose I'll find out eventually. _

I adjusted my sitting position a bit, turning my head to the other side.

_I really do miss being around them though… I wonder if they ever made it back? Or maybe they are still stuck in our world. Hopefully not._

**With the Akatsuki**

"Well, I'm still not sure how or why it happened, but you're definitely not a puppet anymore. The portal must have altered it somehow, permanently," Kakuzu mumbled, massaging the bridge of his nose and leaning back into his chair.

"I still don't understand how this is possible," Sasori grunted in annoyance. Deidara glanced at his partner.

"Guess you'll just have to get used to being human then, yeah."

"Shut up, brat."

"Alright. Let's discuss this promise we've made," Pein resounded. The rest of the Akatsuki looked to him expectantly, arranged neatly around their meeting table. "Sasori, you can address your problem at another time if you feel so inclined, but I believe that we've already agreed that there is nothing we can do about it right now."

Sasori grumbled something under his breath and turned his attention to Pein. Konan cleared her throat.

"Shall we continue then?"

"Right. We've had a few days to settle in and get back into the pace of things, so I think it's time that we find those girls. They helped us when we landed in their world, now we need to help them in ours. I don't think they will survive long without help. Hopefully, they are still alive now." Some of the members looked down at the thought. "But I believe they are still alive. We landed not too far from Sunagakure. I can only assume by how well they patrol their borders that Nicky and Vash have already been picked up and taken into custody. Knowing them… well… they may still be alive."

Hidan slammed his fists onto the table, pushing himself to his feet.

"Well then why the fuck should we waste our time trying to find them if they are probably already dead? It's a fucking waste of time!"

"Very well then Hidan. You will be one of the ones to bring them back."

"What the fu-"

"Konan, Zetsu and Deidara will accompany you. It shouldn't take more people than that. Zetsu, try to scout ahead and report to Konan if you find anything. Now go!"

The ninja instantly dispersed into clouds of smoke with the exception of Zetsu who sunk into the ground.

**Nicky's POV**

As I lay on my side, gazing into the campfire until my eyes saw spots, I tugged lightly on the loose rope from the binds around my wrists. I couldn't stop thinking about how filthy my hair was, with laying on the dirt and having had sand and all sorts of insects blasted into it during our travels. Even so, I was far too tired to sit up. Vash seemed calm and collected on the opposite side of the fire, sitting cross-legged, her tied hands resting in her lap. She also seemed transfixed by the light and warmth of the flame. The escorts sat scattered around the campsite, some sleeping since it was probably close to midnight or something. Who knows anymore really? Cat-man and another guy were the two on watch at the moment.

"I'll stay awake… 'cause the dark's not takin' prisoners tonight…"

I started singing Twenty-One Pilots' Ode to Sleep quietly to myself, in hopes of bringing some sort of comfort. After asking one of the guards earlier, I found out we were going to Konaha. With my small knowledge on the show Naruto, I wasn't sure if this could turn into a good situation or just make it much, much worse.

"Hey."

I looked up to see Kankuro signaling to some of the other guard ninjas. A couple of them quickly disappeared, while Kankuro stood anchored down in his position, set into a more "battle-ready" pose. The remaining guards easily awoke from their slumber and were on high alert. I rolled forward onto my stomach and used my near useless arms to push myself upwards. Vash looked concerned and was about to say something, but decided against it, and instead gave me a nervous look.

Suddenly, a white object floated through the air on a light breeze and landed in front of my lap.

"A paper crane…?"

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><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Sorry for the cliff-hanger! I already started the next one and this seemed like a good place to stop.

**Nicky: **Please review. We love to hear from you!

**Vash: **It makes our suffering more bearable.

**Foosha: **Oh yeah, and Sasori is randomly human. Hooray? Yes. Random, I know. No one seems to care though, poor guy. Sorry about any grammar/spelling mistakes. I edited this at 1am.


	20. The Pein of Freedom!

**Foosha: **Can you believe it guys? I actually put out another chapter within a few months!

**Vash: **Quick, alert the media.

**Foosha: **Unfortunately though, I'd say this chapter and the last chapter have been a bit slow. Sorry about that, but I had to get some things out of the way and set other things up.

**Nicky: **Plot process!

**Foosha: **Yes... anyway, sorry if any of the other characters introduced in the chapter seem OOC. I've been too busy with family stuff to actually go watch the show to figure out what they are really like... so forgive me.

**Nicky: **Thanks again for all of your reviews and messages! They are always welcome!

**Vash: **Foosha doesn't own ninjas or memes or the internet. And let the story begin!

* * *

><p><strong>In the real world...<strong>

It was another rainy day outside, meaning Rin was once again stuck indoors. Luckily, she actually had something to look forward to today: it was her birthday! She was turning 8. And since she was getting older, this meant she could take on more responsibility. She had decided that she was going to get to the bottom of Nicky and Vash's disappearance if it was the last thing she did!

As far as her birthday went, her parents had invited a few of Rin's friends over for cake and presents, but Rin was still too preoccupied in her thoughts to be distracted by a party. Originally, Nicky had planned on taking Rin out to the water park for her birthday with everyone else. Unfortunately… that wouldn't be happening any time soon. So at the moment, Rin was sitting at the dining room table, pushing what was left of her chocolate-strawberry cake around her plate as her guests chatted loudly about trivial "child" things. She was practically ten, she didn't need to bother herself with such pointless thoughts!

"Rin! Are you having a nice birthday, sweetie?"

Rin blinked as she was brought back to the real world. She glanced up to see her mother and father hovering over her, wearing smiles that didn't quite reach their eyes. Rin knew her parents were trying really hard to make this day special for her. And they'd also put a lot of effort into being home more. Regardless of her inner turmoil, she owed it to them to show her appreciation in a way they understood. She looked up at them with a small smile.

"Thanks momma and poppa. It's been a really fun birthday. I'm glad you're both here for it."

Her parents looked surprised, but it soon melted into a look of relief, which they had appeared to be holding in for a while. Her mother leaned down, giving Rin a tight hug.

"We're so glad you feel that way, honey."

Her mother's voice was sincere, which shocked Rin. She hadn't heard that tone from her mother in a very long time. Hesitantly, Rin wrapper her arms around her mother's shoulders, and as she let her mind ease into relaxation, her hold tightened. She hadn't realized that she had been yearning for this close relationship with her parents, and now that she had, she felt a strong sense of desperation to keep it that way.

"Rin," she glanced up from her mother's embrace as her father placed a hand on her shoulder. He smiled softly, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. "We have another surprise for you when your guests leave."

Rin nodded, just content with the fact that she once again had people in her life she could rely on.

True to their word, after the part guests had said their goodbyes, Rin's mother sat with her in the living room while her father retrieved the "surprise". They'd been discussing the girls' disappearance, which helped take some of the stress off Rin's shoulders knowing that someone else knew how worried about them she was. Though, she still felt that she had the responsibility to figure out what happened to them.

"Rin? Is that you?"

Rin turned towards the voice, her eyes widening noticeably. At the entrance of the living room stood her grandmother, the woman she hadn't seen since her young childhood, maybe two or three. Rin quickly stood up and jogged toward her grandmother, enveloping her thin frame in a tight hug.

"Happy birthday, sweetie."

Rin smiled. Her mother walked over to the two and waved back towards the dining room.

"Why don't we go chat over some leftover birthday cake?"

Rin's grandmother nodded and pushed Rin along with her as she walked.

"That sounds nice. Then we can do some catching up! I want to hear what's happening with everyone nowadays."

**Meanwhile**

_Konan! We're saved! _Vash noticed the origami piece too, looking more relaxed. Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind and the campfire went out, leaving us both helpless to the dark night. I brought my knees up to my face, trying to make myself as small as possible. Silently I hoped Vash was doing something similar. Leaves rustled, branches snapped and grunts could be heard. It was eerie how quiet it was for being in the middle of a ninja battle. _I guess that's why their ninja… because they're sneaky like that._

"Die, bitches!"

There were some slicing sounds, one of which resulted in a fleshy hit and a cry of pain. I cringed. _Jesus that sounded like Marshy. I'm glad he's on our side… but why did he come to save us? And why am I not more disturbed by the sounds of people dying?_

His battle noises continued to grow louder, sounding more vicious by the second. I gulped, hoping that he wouldn't accidentally off Vash and I by mistake in his rampage. My eyes still hadn't adjusted to the darkness, so when a bright flash went off nearby, I was nearly blinded. I scrunched my eyes shut in pain before I felt something strong wrap around my waist and lift me in the air to rest on something solid. I wriggled in its grip.

"Holy shit! Put me down! I won't go anywhere I promise, but you're making me really dizzy!"

We started moving at an unnatural speed and I desperately tried to hold down the strong urge to vomit.

"Goddammit, Vash! Don't die!"

**Vash's POV**

I squinted into the darkness when I saw movement after the flashes of light went off. Once the smoke cleared a bit, and my eyes adjusted, I realized Nicky was no longer in front of me. I started to get anxious and called out to her.

"Nicky!"

I heard a voice in the distance, but couldn't tell if it was her or not. More small explosions went off and I ducked my head behind my knees. The fighting was getting closer. _I'm going to die. _Two figures emerged from the foliage, one I recognized by his white hair.

"Hidan!"

Either he didn't hear me or just decided not to acknowledge my existence. Instead, he continued his onslaught of attacks with another figure, who I assumed to be one of the guards, or maybe even kitty-ears. Sparks flew as their weapons clashed. _Holy shit. That's a big scythe. _I scooted myself backwards to avoid the crossfire.

"Where do you think you're going?"

My eyes widened as I was lifted up by my elbows and abruptly carried into the air through the trees, retreating from Hidan's position. He held me around the waist and all I could do was hang there like a limp doll, desperately grabbing as his pant leg to make me feel like I wouldn't fall to my death if he were to slipup. It felt like I was on a rollercoaster as we moved up and down between thick boughs, traveling much faster than the speed I was used to. I lost my grip for a moment when we made a particularly difficult jump. My heart stopped as I was sent flying from his grasp, catapulted through branch after branch before crashing into the dirt, the right half of my body taking most of the impact, and eventually skidding to a halt. Dazed and disoriented, I barely registered how bad my right arm felt and the acute pain erupting from my shoulder. As my senses came back, I felt the stinging sensation of fresh cuts all over my face and being covered in dirt and twigs. I groaned as I tried to open my eyes and noticed my vision was blurry and the frames to my glasses were all that was left of them. The pain I had was now at full force and it was excruciating. I had never felt anything like it in my life. My blurry vision began to dim to black and all I could think was "we're both going to die and no one we care about will ever know what happened."

**Nicky's POV**

We'd been running for a few minutes (well I wasn't running…) and I could finally see the edge of the forest. _Thank god. Open area. _We burst through the dense trees to end up in an open field full of high grass. The moon shone brightly as we slowed to a stop. I realized that I wasn't being taken by a random sand ninja when I saw the familiar head of long blonde hair besides me. I got really excited.

"Foofy!"

He put me down slowly and I stretched out my aching muscles before turning to face him. I beamed at him.

"I didn't think we'd ever see you guys again! I'm so happy I could hug you right now if my hands weren't tied up! I thought we would die for sure…" My face fell. "But Vash… will she be okay?"

Foofy took out one of his diamond-shaped knife things and cut off my wrist restraints before speaking.

"Hidan, Zetsu or Konan will grab her, since we didn't come here just to pick a fight, yeah. We made a promise and we owed you guys, hm."

I nodded and took a deep breath, nervously picking twigs and leaves from my hair.

"Well… what do we do now then?"

"We are meeting back at the base, un."

"…"the" base?"

A light breeze picked up and I finally was able to wind down a little from the adrenaline high I'd been on the past week. I then noticed a shadow growing bigger around me and glanced up in time to see a giant white bird land near Foofy.

"What… the… shit… that's a giant clay bird. There's no way that thing can really fly! There's no way I'm riding it!"

Foofy sighed and rolled his eyes before easily lifting me up and onto the bird, jumping up afterwards.

"We need to report to Leader, un. No time for games, yeah."

_You think this is a motherfuckin' game?_ There was a rumble as the bird began to lift. I lost whatever balance I had and fell on my face. Shakily, I scrambled to my knees and latched onto Foofy's waist for dear life.

We shot off into the night sky and I tightened my grip on Foofy. The speed we took off at left me breathless, but we eventually slowed to a less terrifying place once we were above the clouds. I kept my face buried in his shirt and tried to relax my hands so I wouldn't squeeze him to death.

"You can let go now, un."

"Haha, nice try crazy person! I'm fine right here."

"Don't be such a baby, it's not that bad, yeah."

I felt his hands grab mine and easily unclasp my fingers, pushing my body back a bit in the process. I instantly grabbed onto the back of his cloud cloak.

"Are you nuts?!"

"Just look around, you're fine, or should I knock you out for the ride, hm?"

"I-I'll be fine I guess…" Reluctantly, I tore my eyes from the nifty patterns on Foofy's clothing and looked around me. If Aladdin's magic carpet was real, I'd imagine this is how it'd feel like, except maybe slightly more comfortable to sit on. The sky was dark and clear above the clouds. I could see the stars so clearly that it felt like they couldn't possibly be real. Relaxing somewhat, I scooted myself back and put my hands on the clay bird.

"Whoa, this is actually really neat. Am I dreaming? I'm probably still locked up in that room I bet."

Foofy glanced back at me.

"Leader wants to hear what happened to you guys and even though we did come to save you, he also wants to make sure you didn't give the Sand Village any information about us, yeah."

I nodded.

"That makes sense. At least I'm out of there alive."

"We actually thought you'd be dead for sure, hm."

"Yeah… me too."

**One Bird Ride Later…**

"Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!"

"Ugh…"

I opened my eyes slowly, feeling an instant pressure on my head and throbbing pain. I groaned and closed my eyes again, now realizing that I was on a bed, and a very soft one at that.

"Geez… I feel like I was hit by a rock… what happened?"

My eyes cracked open again, focusing on an orange blob hovering over my face.

"You're awake! Tobi saw girly fall from Deidara-senpai's bird as it was landing! You hit the ground really hard."

"Oh… well that's embarrassing. I was probably asleep." And somehow, I just didn't care. _Old Nicky would be like "Oh nooo I'm so embarrassed," but now I'm like IDGAF Nicky, and I don't give a fuck. My life is over anyways. There's no way to get back home, so whatevs. This is "living-in-the-moment" Nicky, now! No more lingering on the past or future. _In a way, this thought was actually very freeing_. Perhaps thinking this way could calm some of my anxieties! Well, maybe._

"Tobi put the bandage on your head all by Tobi's self!"

He pointed to my head and I sat up and touched the wrinkled fabric of the bandage lightly.

"Thanks Tobi. It's good to see you again."

Instead of commenting back, he quickly embraced me. _Wow, he's really warm. Didn't realize I was cold._ I patted his back awkwardly, not used to close contact, still. He seemed satisfied though as he pulled away.

"Tobi missed the girlies, too! Tobi is glad you're both here."

"Where's Vash at?"

"She's down the hall. Tobi can show you!"

It took a minute to orient myself as I tried to stand up, grabbing onto the bedside table for support. Once I was on two feet, Tobi turned around and led me out of the room, down a few hallways and turns, to the point where I had given up trying to remember how to get there, and eventually stopped in front of an open door. I walked passed him and entered the room. It gave off the vibes of a doctor's office, except not as hi-tech as the ones I was used to. Vash was asleep on one of the few beds, her right arm in a large cast and elevated. She had scratches all over her face and other arm and was, again, missing her glasses.

"What happened?"

"She dislocated her shoulder and broke her arm pretty badly."

I looked up to see Kakuzu (I got his name right!) exiting from a bathroom adjacent to Vash's bed. He continued.

"Luckily, Zetsu grabbed her before anything else could happen."

I sighed.

"At least she'll be okay."

"She'll be fine. Leader needs to see you."

I gave Vash a pat on her good shoulder.

"Hang in there, buddy," I said quietly, then gave Kakuzu a nod. "Okay, let's get this over with."

**Pein's Office**

_Why is this room so dark? _The room was large, with a couple dimly lit ceiling lights that just outlined each member's shape. I felt a little intimidated without Vash by my side and no longer having leverage over these potentially dangerous ninja.

"Can we like… turn on some more light, please?" I asked nervously.

A lamp flickered to life at the far end of the table I was seated at, giving Pein's face a menacing glow. Konan then stood up and turned up the ceiling lights so I could actually see everyone's faces. Pein almost looked annoyed, but then again, he always kinda looks like that. His ringed eyes bore into my brain.

"You're alive. That's surprising." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah yeah." He ignored me.

"I need to know what has occurred since you came through the portal. If you lie, we will kill you."

"Oh come one! You guys should know me better than that!"

His expression remained.

I scoffed.

"Fine. I promise I'll tell the truth or else be brutally murdered."

_Geez, I've sure gotten ballsy. _

He nodded and waited for my story.

**Elsewhere…**

A woman with short black hurried down a hallway. She reached her destination and frantically knocked on the door.

"Come in."

She tried to compose herself before pushing open the door. A blonde woman looked up from some paperwork, her expression worn.

"What is it now?"

"Lady Tsunade, the messengers from Suna... they ran into some problems along the way."

Tsunade sat upright in her chair.

"What kind of problems?"

The dark haired woman exhaled deeply before speaking, her demeanor more serious.

"The Akatsuki ambushed them and kidnapped the girls without chakra."

"The Akatsuki? What would they want with them?"

"I don't know. I could only guess that there is more to those girls than we knew."

Tsunade contemplated quietly, reaching into her desk to grab a bottle.

"If they are associated with the Akatsuki, I can only assume that they are powerful. These girls might be part of a battle strategy. I can't imagine why else they would want seemingly powerless civilians."

"We need to stop the Akatsuki then! If we would have realized how important they were, we could have had more ninja guarding them in their transfer. Who knows, this could be part of their plan to collect the Jinchuriki."

The blonde nodded slowly, eyes calculating.

"I need to contact the Kazekage, if he doesn't already know. We might have to take action."

"I'll notify the messengers."

And with that, Tsunade was left with her thoughts. She sighed.

"Today is going to be long."

**Later in Elsewhere Elsewhere…**

"So, no chakra, hm?"

The man had a slight lisp as he spoke. His snake-like eyes turned up with his smile.

"How interesting."

The man who had delivered the news stood close by, a glare reflecting off of his glasses.

"Yes, that's what the scout said."

"And they are with the Akatsuki?"

"Yes."

"Hm… well we wouldn't want **him** to get overexcited. Let's wait for Konaha to make a move on them first."

**Nicky's POV**

After I had told my long and adventurous tale of being captured and imprisoned, Orangey and the others interrogated me for a few hours to ensure that I didn't tell anyone about them. I realized that I had never even considered telling the sand guys about the Akatsuki. If I had, I would imagine they would torture us to death for information. _So… probably good I didn't do that!_ In the end, Pein decided he would discuss with everyone else what to do with us and try to get some sort of vote going. In the meantime, we would have to just hang out.

At the moment, I was laying down on the fluffy bed I had woken up in, only hours ago, and yet I felt like I've been awake forever. I was exhausted.

"Can't sleep yet though."

I groaned and reluctantly pulled myself from the bed, wobbling into the hallway after standing up too fast. Konan had kindly offered me some clothes to change into and showed me where a shower was. I had no idea when the last time I changed was.

"I bet it's been almost a week… yeesh."

I was still wearing the same uncomfortable ninja clothes that I left the sand village in, four days ago. _Gross._

After walking a little ways, I found the bathroom surprisingly easily, but the door was shut.

"Well… dumb."

With a sigh, I sat down next to the door, hoping that whoever was in there wasn't a bathroom-hog, like Vash. _Speaking of Vash, I wonder if she's awake yet. _ She was still sleeping when I checked on her on my way back from the meeting. _She's always been a heavy sleeper. Lucky._

"Are you just going to stare at the wall like an idiot all day?"

My cheeks instantly flushed with embarrassment and I glared at the person next to me, cursing inwardly at my quick change from "IDGAF Nicky" to "normal Nicky". Sasori stood above me, his eyebrows raised.

"What else was I supposed to do?" I mumbled, pushing myself up. I quickly passed around him, not looking anywhere close to his face, and shut the door.

_Now, I wonder how long I can survive in an unfamiliar place where I'm not a prisoner._

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><p><strong>Foosha: <strong>Okay guys, guess what? The next chapter or so are going to be filled with fluff and stuff like that. I know you've been waiting forever and I'm going to reward you for your loyalty! There is going to be a LOT of fluff, but I'm still going to try to maintain a believable escalation of a relationship. Also, there are probably only like... nine or ten chapters left! Can you believe it? Crazy, seriously. Anyways, review and stuff! I love you all and am excited for the next few chapters :D


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